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Superfreakanomics

04 Jun 2010

Excellent. I read this during my vacation to Morocco and it’s about as good as vacation books get.

This one reads like an excellent continuation to the first, which I loved. Everyone should read both. The cut to the bone of the hardest problem to convince people of in economics, namely, that one cannot quantify the unseen effects of decisions, so many economic decisions can never be truly justified.

This one also has an eye-opening, fairly detailed analysis of global warming cures that have nothing to do with reducing emissions, such as polluting the upper atmosphere instead of the lower to reflect sunlight. It’s a good chapter for anyone to read; it highlights the similarities between the climate change position and a religion. Namely, that we can only achieve salvation via reduced consumption. It’s not a problem that can be solved. We are sinning when we waste. It’s a very interesting perspective, which I had heard mentioned by folks in the liberty-sphere before, but this is where it’s well-presented.

And there’s lots more–cool economics about prostitutes and terrorists, and the whole time, it’s presented in an entertaining way. Just tons of fun.

It’s weird–I wish I could say more about books that I can recommend more or less without reservation, but I write these reviews to collect the thoughts that I had against books, usually. Not really many to speak of here.