Does Freakonomics Suck? (Part II)

Several weeks ago, in the interest of full transparency, we posted some negative reviews of our book. The time has come again. It’s not that we are masochists; in fact, positive reviews have regularly been posted on this site as well. Like this one and this one and this one and this one. (The last one goes a bit too far even for us, calling me Aaron to Levitt’s Moses; the funny thing is, Levitt does have a bit of a lisp, and Moses had a stammer — his reason for pressing God to ask Aaron, not him, to lead the stiff-necked Jews out of Egypt … but that’s another story.) So here are a couple of recent reviews that are far less laudatory. The first, by Arnold Kling, is from Tech Central Station and the second, by James Q. Wilson, from Commentary. It’s a very strange experience to have (co-) written a book about which so many intelligent people feel so differently; on balance, however, it’s been hugely entertaining: often gratifying, occasionally maddening, frequently humbling, rarely boring.