SuperFreakonomics

SUPERFREAKANOMICS follows the trend made popular in the authors' first book, FREAKONOMICS, as well as the works of writers like Malcolm Gladwell: questioning conventional wisdom. Still, one has to wonder if they aren't deliberately seeking controversy by going after such sacred cows as Al Gore and whether Iran isn't ahead of us in paying people to donate organs, to say nothing of advice on how to become a better-paid prostitute. Couple that with the only thinly veiled hint of mischief that comes through in Dubner's delivery, and it seems clear he's having a fine old time tweaking our perceptions. Whether one agrees with the authors or not, Dubner's high-energy reading and obvious glee over some of the great "got-cha!" moments make for addictive listening. D.G. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

October 5, 2009
Economist Levitt and journalist Dubner capitalize on their megaselling Freakonomics
with another effort to make the dismal science go gonzo. Freaky topics include the oldest profession (hookers charge less nowadays because the sexual revolution has produced so much free competition), money-hungry monkeys (yep, that involves prostitution, too) and the dunderheadedness of Al Gore. There’s not much substance to the authors’ project of applying economics to all of life. Their method is to notice some contrarian statistic (adult seat belts are as effective as child-safety seats in preventing car-crash fatalities in children older than two), turn it into “economics” by tacking on a perfunctory cost-benefit analysis (seat belts are cheaper and more convenient) and append a libertarian sermonette (governments “tend to prefer the costly-and-cumbersome route”). The point of these lessons is to bolster the economist’s view of people as rational actors, altruism as an illusion and government regulation as a folly of unintended consequences. The intellectual content is pretty thin, but it’s spiked with the crowd-pleasing provocations—“'A pimp’s services are considerably more valuable than a realtor’s’” —that spell bestseller.