What do you get if you cross an unconventional economist with a talented journalist? If the economist if Steven D Levitt and the writer is Stephen J Dubner, then the result is a series of best-selling books and a hugely popular podcast. Along the way it will entertain and astonish a lot of people, make others angry, and introduce a new word to the English language: “Freakonomics”.
Steven D Levitt & Stephen J Dubner “Think Like a Freak: How to Think Smarter about Almost Everything”
(2014, Penguin Books 2015). 286 pages.
Their previous books have been packed with surprise and insight. There are ways to analyse patterns of human behaviour that seem completely off kilter until a lightbulb moment shows that “Aha! THAT’s how it works” and a bit of our confusing world makes a little more sense.
Apparently weird coincidences make sense; policy decisions turn out to have the opposite effect to that intended; even what we might imagine to be the chaotic and unpredictable nature of crime makes economic sense when the right spotlight is shone into the dark places. Nothing is off limits to these iconoclastic thinkers.
In this, the third book of the Freakonomics series, the authors turn the analysis onto themselves and their own thought processes. How do they do it? What are the patterns and habits of thinking that are able to cut through awkward and baffling problems in a way that continues to reveal truth and, often, give rise to the joyful surprise of unpicking the lock.
One thing that they reveal is that they have no magic formula. They too have their failures and limitations, often in terms of getting policy makers or influencers to believe their radical solutions. There is no quick fix to changing someone’s mind, especially if their vested interest or hard-won academic reputation might be at stake. So some fundamentals of their approach is to be able to say “I don’t know” and to be prepared to fail.
In fact the final chapter “The Upside of Quitting” is one of the most valuable lessons. There are numerous examples of how people get “stuck” in situations where they feel compelled to “stick with it” instead of cutting their losses and switching to something new, whether that’s a different career, or a different life partner. Sometimes our “don’t give up” values can harm us…
Without ever invoking mathematical Game Theory, one of the most entertaining chapters uncovers how brilliantly subtle psychological tricks can be used to manipulate the world. “What Do King Solomon and David Lee Roth Have in Common” wittily compares the Biblical story of Solomon threatening to cut a baby in half, to what goes on in the green room of a Van Halen concert. Wisdom, it turns out. No spoilers – it really is worth reading that in their own words in the chapter “Teaching the Garden to Weed Itself”.
And why are children better at spotting how magic tricks work? How do you win a hot-dog eating contest? And what was the reason that slave-traders licked the skin of their victims? As ever, some of the subjects are not only off-beat, but occasionally unsettling, but each and every anecdote is told with a purpose, to illustrate a way of thinking; a style of investigation that cuts through the received wisdom or the conventional and possibly unhelpful explanations for why things are as they are.
I highly recommend any of Dubner and Levitt’s books, and am more likely now to entrust a difficult decision to a coin toss in the future!
Elsewhere:
- Steven D Levitt & Stephen J Dubner “Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything” (2006 Penguin Books), 336 pages
- Steven D Levitt & Stephen J Dubner “Super Freakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes and why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance” (201, Penguin Books), 320 pages
- Book Review – It’s the Economy, Stupid! – OffTheShelf (grandpops-bookshelf.co.uk)
- You know it makes sense – OffTheShelf (grandpops-bookshelf.co.uk)