Freakonomics

Not the most 'conventional' book, Freakonomics urges the reader to look in to the inner workings of life. I started out knowing nothing of Steven Levitt or Steven Dunbar, but towards the end of the novel you understand how they think and what their outlook on life is. This book does not follow any specific order although the authors manage to tie in almost everything from the beginning of the novel to information they give in the end. What I understood from reading this novel is that there are many ways of looking at life, and Levitt keeps you thinking of 'why did I never think of looking at it that way?' You get captivated and want to hear and get more information more as you read. I think his overall purpose wasn't to get people to drastically change their lifestyle, if in any way possible to make a little bit of change to make living easier for everyone else around. In the epilogue, 'Two paths to Harvard', Levitt shows the reader that there are many ways to succeed in life, but there is always the possibility of failure as noted by his explanation of one of the guy who went to Harvard and turned out to be the bomber Ted Kaczynski. Many people would think that he is morbid for even thinking that abortion was one of the main factors in the crime decrease in the 1990's, but it is fascinating to me that he is able to put two things that don't even seem to correlate together and explain the facts as to how he came to that conclusion. Overall Freakonomics was an amazing book that asked not told the reader to look at life a little differently and see how it works in detail without trying to hard to change who you are.