FreakonomicsSteven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
How does one get a lazy eye? More importantly, how do I not get one? And how long can I continue to avoid glaucoma testing before my sight is compromised? How do I rid myself of my eye phobia? Why do I think so much about eyes? (Answer: Red Dragon at 9 years old.) Why can't we send someone into a black hole to see what happens upon reaching the singularity? (I nominate Paris Hilton. That will get rid of Paris AND her lazy eye, all in the interests of scientific knowledge. Three cool things for the price of one. Did I mention lazy eyes freak me out?)
Anyway, back to my questions. How many lashes does it take to atone for liking Fall Out Boy? Why do I suck at formatting my posts on Blogger?* Why don't more people recognize the greatness of Peewee's Big Adventure?
Comedy at its greatest
As you can see, I have lots of questions. Unfortunately, Freakonomics answered none of them. Instead, it answered questions on crack and sumo wrestling, two things I don't really care about. So I have stupid questions, they have stupid questions. The main difference between their questions and mine? They answered theirs. And made a lot of money doing it. Suckers. And by suckers I mean fuckers.
The authors ponder everything from crack to sumo to whatever else they can get data on. While some people criticize the book for not having a "unifying theme," I like its randomness. When it comes to math, random = not boring. Let's keep things crackling, I always say.** The authors study how teachers, sumo wrestlers, and white-collar bagel buyers all cheat, how crack dealers remain poor, how a baby's name affects its life, and even how abortion lowers the crime rate. Some parts seem more logical than others, but I wasn't too distracted by what seemed like a stretched conclusion in places -- I like Freakonomics because it involves math and I can still understand it. Woot woot.
In a nutshell: If you name your daughter Heaven, she'll probably end up a stripper. Well, shit, I could have told you that.
Bibliolatry Scale: 4 out of 6 stars
*As my past few posts have illustrated, my formatting skills are coming along MARVELOUSLY. Last week I posted a picture WITH a caption. Today I posted a video. Take that, computer geeks. Here I come!
**I don't actually say this.
1 comment:
I'm a loner, Dottie. A rebel.
Yeah, I skimmed through this book one day at the library and thought, eh, nothing particularly mindblowing. Don't they have one about men's nipples now? Or is that another 'questions you never thought to ask' type book? I'm getting confused ...
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