Steven D. Levitt

Stephen J. Dubner

Why don't flight attendants get tipped? If you were a terrorist, how would you attack? And why does KFC always run out of fried chicken? Over the past decade, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner have published more than 8,000 blog posts on Freakonomics.com. Now the very best of this writing has been carefully curated into one volume, the perfect solution for the millions of readers who love all things Freakonomics. Discover why taller people tend to make more money; why it's so hard to predict the Kentucky Derby winner; and why it might be time for a sex tax (if not a fat tax). You'll also learn a great deal about Levitt and Dubner's own quirks and passions. Surprising and erudite, eloquent and witty, Freaks and Friends demonstrates the brilliance that has made their books an international sensation.

A Rogue Economist's Guide to the World

When to Rob a Bank

In celebration of the 10th anniversary of the landmark book Freakonomics comes this curated collection from the most readable economics blog in the universe. It’s the perfect solution for the millions of readers who love all things Freakonomics. Surprising and erudite, eloquent and witty, When to Rob a Bank demonstrates the brilliance that has made the Freakonomics guys an international sensation, with more than 7 million books sold in 40 languages, and 150 million downloads of their Freakonomics Radio podcast. When Freakonomics was first published, the authors started a blog—and they’ve kept it up. The writing is more casual, more personal, even more outlandish than in their books. In When to Rob a Bank, they ask a host of typically off-center questions: Why don’t flight attendants get tipped? If you were a terrorist, how would you attack? And why does KFC always run out of fried chicken? Over 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.

...And 131 More Warped Suggestions and Well-Intended Rants

Katheryn

One hidden consequence of high gas prices: they lead to more traffic fatalities as drivers opt for smaller, fuel-efficient cars—and, increasingly, motorcycles. A 2014 study in the journal Injury Prevention found that in California alone, a thirty-cent-per-gallon rise in gas prices led to an extra eight hundred motorbike-related deaths over a nine-year period. 

Lord Aragorn

Some interesting insights (like "Freakonomics") but a lot of content with zero insight. The entire section on poker (and other forms of gambling) was pointless. Not a book I'd recommend - better to read the popular blog entries directly on the blog.

Jeni Enjaian

I love Freakonomics and have listened to Freaconomics radio since it started. Obviously I wanted to read their books too. This one, however, I enjoyed but not nearly as much as the longer form podcasts, the ones where they actually trace out the story. This book combines blog posts where Levitt and Dubner (and a handful of other guest authors) entertain a behavioral economics ideas but never fully develop them.
Hopefully the other books, the ones that are not compilation of blog posts, will have better results.

When to Rob a Bank A Rogue Economist's Guide to the World

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