The New York Times bestselling Freakonomics changed the way we see the world, exposing the hidden side of just about everything. Then came SuperFreakonomics, a documentary film, an award-winning podcast, and more.
Now, with Think Like a Freak, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner have written their most revolutionary book yet. With their trademark blend of captivating storytelling and unconventional analysis, they take us inside their thought process and teach us all to think a bit more productively, more creatively, more rationallyâto think, that is, like a Freak.
Levitt and Dubner offer a blueprint for an entirely new way to solve problems, whether your interest lies in minor lifehacks or major global reforms. As always, no topic is off-limits. They range from business to philanthropy to sports to politics, all with the goal of retraining your brain. Along the way, youâll learn the secrets of a Japanese hot-dog-eating champion, the reason an Australian doctor swallowed a batch of dangerous bacteria, and why Nigerian e-mail scammers make a point of saying theyâre from Nigeria.
Some of the steps toward thinking like a Freak:
First, put away your moral compassâbecause itâs hard to see a problem clearly if youâve already decided what to do about it. Learn to say âI donât knowââfor until you can admit what you donât yet know, itâs virtually impossible to learn what you need to. Think like a childâbecause youâll come up with better ideas and ask better questions. Take a master class in incentivesâbecause for better or worse, incentives rule our world. Learn to persuade people who donât want to be persuadedâbecause being right is rarely enough to carry the day. Learn to appreciate the upside of quittingâbecause you canât solve tomorrowâs problem if you arenât willing to abandon todayâs dud. Levitt and Dubner plainly see the world like no one else. Now you can too. Never before have such iconoclastic thinkers been so revealingâand so much fun to read.