I have no idea if Priscilla Owen is a good judge or not, but a fellow named Chris Wildermuth decided to use freakonomics to see why the opinion of her had changed so radically in recent years. His entire riff can be found here, on a blog called Power Line; but here’s a taste:Reading “Freakonomics” helps you spot interesting trends . . .
Those of you who like economics detective stories — yes, it’s a pretty limited genre — might want to read this Slate article we wrote, about a sharp young Harvard economist named Emily Oster. Some of the debate in “The Fray” (Slate’s online feedback chatroom) gets into the question that’s been tossed about a lot lately: “What makes this economics?” . . .
On p. 39 of Freakonomics, we make a passing reference to the Chicago Black Sox, the name given to the Chicago White Sox after eight players were found to have colluded with gamblers to throw the 1919 World Series. A reader recently wrote: “The 1919 white sox were not known as the black sox because they threw the world series. . . .
The good news is that Freakonomics is one of Amazon.com’s most popular products in hardcover, on audio CD, and even as a digital download. In hardcover, the other top-sellers include Harry Potter, You: The Owner’s Manual, and so on. On audio CD, it keeps company with a Spanish-language course and a James Patterson thriller. But (and here’s the weird news) . . .
In light of our anonymous poster’s Starbucks story (see “A $2 Cup of Coffee”), here’s my own tale of food and economics: An old friend came to town not long ago and we met for a late lunch on the Upper West Side. Trilby ordered a burger, no bread, with brie; I ordered half a roasted chicken with mashed potatoes. . . .
It would seem that one sensible purpose of this blog would be to respond to Freakonomics questions and comments that come up in reviews, blogs, reader e-mails, etc. Consider this post the first of several such responses. A lot of people have wondered about one minor but significant element of the book: the use of small excerpts of a New . . .
[for a Freakonomics status report, click here] Our publisher has been busily promoting and selling Freakonomics, which of course is its job, and which we, not surprisingly, applaud. When something good happens — a nice review in the Wall Street Journal, for instance, or an upcoming appearance on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart — the publisher assiduously spreads the . . .
Over the years I have had the opportunity to write about a great many interesting people. My mother had an extraordinary (and long-buried) story to tell. I’ve interviewed Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber; the rookie class of the N.F.L. ; a remarkable cat burglar who stole only sterling silver. But lately I have been writing about economists — and, most fruitfully, . . .
A few bloggers have pointed out that the cover of Freakonomics is, shall we say, quite similar to the cover of this book. To which we initially said: Yikes. Should we be embarrassed about this? We thought the cover of Freakonomics was brilliant the moment the publisher showed it to us. We had been suggesting something along similar lines — . . .
Freakonomics is almost officially for sale (Tues., April 12 is the date), and on Amazon.com and bn.com, where it can be pre-ordered, it has jumped onto the best-seller lists. (As of 9:00 p.m. EDT on April 9, it was #15 on Amazon.) Its authors are happily mystified. This spike seems attributable to a very nice interview of Steve Levitt by . . .
Every parent thinks he has the most beautiful baby in the world. Evolution, it seems, has molded our brains so that if you stare at your own baby’s face day after day after day, it starts to look beautiful. When other people’s children have food clotted on their faces, it looks disgusting; with your own kid, it’s somehow endearing. Well, . . .
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