Title: Superficial cocktail party chatter
Product review: Since everyone was talking about it, I bought and read Freakonomics. Some of the vignettes are interesting, but ultimately all of them end up seeming pretty obvious and trivial. He proves street crack dealers don't make the money, the higher ups do. He shows how teachers cheat on student achievement tests. He goes into excruciating detail about what first names are popular and for how long. The most controversial element is the suggestion that the drop in crime in the early 90s stemmed from Roe v. Wade leading to the abortion of a whole generation of criminals. Unlike the other data-backed trivialities in the book, this bombshell conclusion is based mostly on supposition and opinion, and perhaps wishful thinking, rather than real evidence presented in a compelling way.The book is a cultural phenomenon, but so was the pet rock for awhile. My copy's for sale on Amazon, "like new."
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