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When to Rob a Bank
...And 131 More Warped Suggestions and Well-Intended Rants
418 pages
A delightfully irreverent romp through the hidden incentives and bizarre data points that secretly govern our everyday lives.
What it feels like
Reading this collection feels like sitting at a bar with two brilliant, slightly eccentric professors who are determined to upend everything you thought you knew about the world. Because it is curated from a decade of blog posts, the pace is incredibly brisk, making it the perfect book to dip into when you only have a few minutes to spare. The mood is intellectually playful and breezy, driven by a wry, conversational prose style that makes complex economic concepts feel like juicy gossip. It is a book that thrives on the joy of the 'aha!' moment, tracing an arc of continuous, amused enlightenment. Fans of pop-science and contrarian thinking will devour these bite-sized explorations of human irrationality, hidden incentives, and the delightfully weird data that shapes our society.
- Mood
- intellectually playful
- breezy
- curious
- Tone
- wry
- inquisitive
- irreverent
- conversational
- analytical
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- hidden incentives · unconventional wisdom · human irrationality · everyday economics · data-driven curiosity
- The writing
- Snappy, accessible, and highly conversational, blending statistical analysis with witty anecdotes.
- The arc
- Moves from casual curiosity to amused enlightenment as everyday assumptions are repeatedly turned upside down.
- Who it's for
- Armchair economists, trivia lovers, and fans of pop-science who enjoy having their preconceived notions challenged in bite-sized chunks.
Content notes
- discussions of crime
- gun violence statistics
- gambling
About the book
In celebration of the 10th anniversary of the landmark book Freakonomics FreakonomicsOver the past decade, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner have published more than 8,000 blog posts on Freakonomics.com. Many of them, they freely admit, were rubbish. But now they've gone through and picked the best of the best. You'll discover what people lie about, and why; the best way to cut gun deaths; why it might be time for a sex tax; and, yes, when to rob a bank. (Short answer: never; the ROI is terrible.) You'll also learn a great deal about Levitt and Dubner's own quirks and passions, from gambling and golf to backgammon and the abolition of the penny.
Description from Open Library.
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