Business Audio Book-Freakonomics
Which is more dangerous: a gun or a swimming pool? What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common? Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? How much do parents really matter? How did the legalization of abortion affect the rate of violent crime? These may not sound like typical questions for an economist to ask. But Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist.
He is a much-heralded scholar who studies the riddles of everyday life—from cheating and crime to sports and child-rearing—and whose conclusions turn the conventional wisdom on its head. Thus the new field of study contained in this business audiobook: Freakonomics.
Levitt and co-author Stephen J. Dubner show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives—how people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing. In Freakonomics, they explore the hidden side of . . . well, everything. The inner working of a crack gang. The truth about real-estate agents. The secrets of the Klu Klux Klan. What unites all these stories is a belief that the modern world is even more intriguing than we think. All it takes is a new way of looking, and Freakonomics will redefine the way we view the modern world.
The lesson of this business audiobook is that we should be leery of trusting society’s common assumptions or common wisdom. In other words, the book encourages us to keep our mind alert and break out of the mold in the way we see things. Things are not what they seem despite what the initial facts may say! This audiobook reinforces the growing philosophy-held by still a minority of folks- that promotes the notion that we have to get away from finding quick and immediate fixes for various issues, but invest some time and effort to create a holistic approach to tackling pressing systemic issues. We more than often than not misidentify the causes to the problems we are facing- and jump in to quickly with fixes that ultimately make things worse.
The book is excellently written and fun! Thought provocation- at its best. It is definitely a…WOW! Whoever is interested in thinking outside the box on issues that you always thought you knew the cause of, download and listen to Freakonomics MP3. Absolutely fascinating! Who knew economics could be so interesting, and offer such incredible insight. What a perfect audiobook to listen to now-given our current times of global economic turbulence.
Review submitted by Multimedia Book Shop: www.multimediabookshop.com
