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  • Essay / Freakonomics: a thoughtful analysis on an eye-opening read

    Freakonomics. What kind of name is that for a book about entrepreneurship? This sounds like a joke. I chose this book for the same reason I chose the other two I wrote essays about: I received it as a gift. Unfortunately, this was the last book I received as a gift and it was also on the book list. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essay This book was a pleasant surprise, I was expecting a childish and simple book, similar to Tribes. My expectations were exceeded and I am happy about it. The book begins with a short introduction to the world of economics and explains why and how economics can explain everything that happens in the world. This is the general premise of the book and the rest is spent showing the numbers to prove how much economics determines our lives. First we have the example of school teachers and sumo wrestlers, where the notion of cheating is explored. After that we learn how important the information is with the example of the Ku Klux Klan (I like how the authors chose wacky examples, it helps to stay hooked), then we talk a little about the perspective and how “common sense” is right. manufacturing based on convenience. Chapter 4 is really powerful because it describes a really powerful idea: the cause of an effect can be completely different from what we think, we'll get to that later. The last two chapters are all about social determinism and getting your name right (which was an amazing premise). Ultimately, we are brought back to earth with some examples of data versus chance and how much of it is beyond our control. This may not be fair, but I would compare this book to Tribes by Seth Godin. It's ahead in terms of content and ideas, although it's a bit lacking in the readability section. What Freakonomics does very well is present data: from graphs showing each year from 2006 to 2011 to links to actual studies where they mention sample size. What's actually most interesting is that they interpret these results in unexpected ways, just like they did with the baby name example. There are, however, pacing issues, where it feels like the chapters are disjointed from each other, giving “Tribes” a place in the structure area. The language used in Steven's book is quite easy to understand and follow, but pales in comparison to the simplicity of Seth Godin's, making it a bit more difficult for new readers to understand. Overall, “Freakonomics” is a superior book and should be treated as such. While reading it, you should take notes, understand the underlying circumstances, such as the time period and the population of those years. One example that seemed really powerful to me was the case of Ceausescu and his rules on abortion. In 1966, just a year after coming to power, Nicolae Ceausescu declared abortion illegal, saying that "anyone who avoids having children is a deserter who abandons the laws of the national community" (which is of course true). stupidity). He wanted to create the perfect race, the new socialist man, and increase the productivity of the agricultural sector through this policy. Women often took pregnancy tests at work and if they failed repeatedly, they were forced to pay a "celibacy tax." This is madness! What was wrong with us? His idea was ultimately his undoing, with the generation he created being the ones that brought him down. THE.