Superfreakonomics offers an intellectual stimulus package

November 4, 10:45 AMSeattle Books ExaminerDanielle Dreger-Babbitt

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Superfreakonomics will change the way you look at prostitutes, doctors, and driving.

Image from HarperCollins Publishers

"To change the world, first you have to understand it."  That's the premise of Superfreakonomics  Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance, the follow-up to the 2005 New York Times bestseller Freakonomics by economist Steven Levitt and journalist Stephen Dubner.  Freakonomics has sold more than four million copies worldwide, spent over two years on the New York Times Bestseller list, and has been translated into 35 languages.  Superfreakonomics is just as thought-provoking and entertaining as its predecessor.

Levitt and Dubner show the world for what it really is and how it works.. People respond to incentives.  Superfreakonomics is more than just a mix of smart thinking and great storytelling.  It's a fun exploration of everything from how cable TV has inspired women's rights in India to car safety to how most charitable donations are actually selfish acts to just how sanitary doctors are.  The book is  controversial and will likely spark heated debate about some the research presented.  According to Superfreakonomics, drunk driving is safer than drunk walking and that terrorists are successful even when they fail.

The most striking chapters are the first and last.  The first, "How is a Street Prostitute Like a Department Store Santa" examines the economic cost of being a woman and how feminism and casual sex has caused the cost of prostitution to drop dramatically over the last 50 years.  In the final chapter, "What Do Al Gore and Mount Pinatubo Have in Common," looks at global warming, geoengineering, and how doctors don't wash their hands as often as the report.  This chapter is the most memorable and the most likely to be taken out of context.

Levitt and Dubner were in Seattle Monday night to speak about Superfreakonomics to several hundred people at Town Hall Seattle.  Kim Ricketts Book Events brought the authors into town and everyone who attended the talk went home with a copy of Superfreakonomic.  Their Q&A with Warren Etheredge, of the Warren Report, was frank and funny.  As Etheredge put it, the duo are a lot like Penn and Teller. They feed off of each others energy, disagree occasionally, and poke fun at each other.  Levitt and Dubner emphasized that people can be easily manipulated and that the act of watching people will change the way they behave.

Superfreakonomics is available now in bookstores.  If it wasn't on your reading radar, it should be.  The book will change the way you look at prostitutes, global warming, and car seats.

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