Book Review: Freakonomics by Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner

Penguin Group, ISBN 0-713-99806-7, £20

This book tries to demystify the numeric side of economics as Levitt and Dubner turn conventional economics on its head.

Being from a community in which numbers, or more precisely statistics, play a significant role, I can testify to the fact that there are many who still treat statistics as gospel truths, as opposed to guidelines or comparative metrics. I bought this book in the hope that the content would dispel myths and develop a more pragmatic view of data and statistics. If it met these objectives, it would be an ideal Christmas present for those in the sales and marketing community.

In some ways this book did meet with aspirations. It does (in a number of cases) present a view of statistics that cautions premature analysis. More importantly, it demonstrates how the most obvious view of facts may often hide more subtle, yet perhaps more important, information. A prudent reminder to the analyst community at large!

Whilst the general content was entertaining and a worthy read, I was disappointed at the US bias of the examples used in the book. Whilst interesting to foreigners, its usefulness is limited to the domestic audience. The logic flow appeared a little bizarre to me. My greatest problem with this read was that quotes used to precede several of the chapters smacked of self promotion, adding no value to the content, and in some cases detracting from the perceived neutrality of the text.

In summary a worthy read, interesting rather than educational, for the US market only.

Also in this issue . . . .

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