When to Rob a Bank

April 6, 2015
As coauthors Levitt and Dubner explain at the start of this delightful collection, a decade ago, concurrent with the publication of their book Freakonomics, they decided to start a blog with the same name. Eight thousand posts later, they're still writing, even though the blog generates no income and probably cannibalizes sales from their books. For the site's anniversary, they've finally bowed to reader demands to turn it into a book. The result is this energetic, charming assortment of posts, thematically arranged, on topics as varied as terrorism, restoration of the draft, getting rid of the penny, car-seat safety, obesity, the U.S. crackdown on Internet poker, steroid use in the Tour de France, the D.C. gun ban, and "No Gas Day." Lively, self-deprecating writing ensures an entertaining read for fans and new readers alike. It seems likely to prove the authors right in their gamble that even content available for free can be a viable product, especially with such a large, devoted fanbase. Agent: Suzanne Gluck, WME.

May 1, 2015

Levitt and Dubner, coauthors of Freakonomics, SuperFreakonomics, and Think Like a Freak, return with more of their signature humor and economic perspective on everyday life, this time with excerpts from their blog (freakonomics.com). Each of the 132 short entries was written by one of the site's bloggers--mostly Levitt and Dubner, but they also highlight pieces by other contributors. Posts were composed by a single author, rather than by both as in their books. Chapters are organized thematically, and topics range from the price of oil and the time necessary to improve a golf swing to the customer service at KFC and the best day of the week to rob a bank. Since this compilation comes from actual blog posts, it frequently references events that are no longer current, but most topics are still relevant. VERDICT This book will be a hit with fans of Freakonomics, though those who aren't familiar with Levitt and Dubner's previous works will want to start with those. [See Prepub Alert, 11/3/14.]--Elizabeth Nelson, McHenry Cty. Coll. Lib., Crystal Lake, IL

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2015

After the success of their first book, Freakonomics (William Morrow, 2005), Levitt and Dubner started a blog at freakonomics.com as a place for their readers to interact with them and to pose questions and offer, as the subtitle of this book states, "warped suggestions and well-intended rants." This book is a compilation of the best of those blog posts over the past 10 years. This book culls the best posts from the blog and puts the entries in one place, making them easy to browse and giving the authors a chance to update some of the posts with new information. Unfortunately, there isn't any methodical organization to the content and some of the topics are so old as to be irrelevant (for example, do readers really care that in 2006 Levitt predicted that Barack Obama would one day be president?). However, it's a great introduction for teens to the general idea of looking more deeply into assumptions about terrorism, cheating, endangered species, and the locavore movement, to name just a few. Levitt and Dubner's writing is breezy and often laugh-out-loud funny as well as thought provoking and eye-opening. VERDICT Leave a copy of this book sitting on a table in the teen section, and wait for them to start reading snippets of it aloud to one another.-Sarah Flowers, formerly of Santa Clara County Library

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.