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Think Like a Freak: The Authors of Freakonomics Offer to Retrain Your Brain Hardcover – Deckle Edge, May 12, 2014
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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 rationally—to 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, you’ll 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 they’re from Nigeria.
Some of the steps toward thinking like a Freak:
- First, put away your moral compass—because it’s hard to see a problem clearly if you’ve already decided what to do about it.
- Learn to say “I don’t know”—for until you can admit what you don’t yet know, it’s virtually impossible to learn what you need to.
- Think like a child—because you’ll come up with better ideas and ask better questions.
- Take a master class in incentives—because for better or worse, incentives rule our world.
- Learn to persuade people who don’t want to be persuaded—because being right is rarely enough to carry the day.
- Learn to appreciate the upside of quitting—because you can’t solve tomorrow’s problem if you aren’t willing to abandon today’s dud.
Levitt and Dubner plainly see the world like no one else. Now you can too. Never before have such iconoclastic thinkers been so revealing—and so much fun to read.
- Print length288 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherWilliam Morrow
- Publication dateMay 12, 2014
- Dimensions5.5 x 0.97 x 8.25 inches
- ISBN-100062218336
- ISBN-13978-0062218339
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“Utterly captivating.” — Malcolm Gladwell, New York Times bestselling author of Blink, The Tipping Point, and David and Goliath
“Over nine entertaining chapters [Levitt and Dubner] demonstrate how not to fall into hackneyed approaches to solving problems and concretely illustrate how to reframe questions.” — New York Daily News
“Compelling and fun.” — New York Post
“This book will change your life.” — Daily Express (London)
“Good ideas... expressed with panache.” — Financial Times
“An interesting and thought-provoking read.” — The Horn
“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 rationally --- to think, that is, like a Freak.” — Bookreporter.com
From the Back Cover
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 rationally—to 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, you'll 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 they're from Nigeria.
Some of the steps toward thinking like a Freak:
- First, put away your moral compass—because it's hard to see a problem clearly if you've already decided what to do about it.
- Learn to say "I don't know"—for until you can admit what you don't yet know, it's virtually impossible to learn what you need to.
- Think like a child—because you'll come up with better ideas and ask better questions.
- Take a master class in incentives—because for better or worse, incentives rule our world.
- Learn to persuade people who don't want to be persuaded—because being right is rarely enough to carry the day.
- Learn to appreciate the upside of quitting—because you can't solve tomorrow's problem if you aren't willing to abandon today's dud.
Levitt and Dubner plainly see the world like no one else. Now you can too. Never before have such iconoclastic thinkers been so revealing—and so much fun to read.
About the Author
Steven D. Levitt, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago, was awarded the John Bates Clark Medal, given to the most influential American economist under forty. He is also a founder of The Greatest Good, which applies Freakonomics-style thinking to business and philanthropy.
Stephen J. Dubner, an award-winning journalist and radio and TV personality, has worked for the New York Times and published three non-Freakonomics books. He is the host of Freakonomics Radio and Tell Me Something I Don't Know.
Stephen J. Dubner is an award-winning author, journalist, and radio and TV personality. He quit his first career—as an almost rock star—to become a writer. He has since taught English at Columbia, worked for The New York Times, and published three non-Freakonomics books.
Product details
- Publisher : William Morrow; First Edition (May 12, 2014)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 288 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0062218336
- ISBN-13 : 978-0062218339
- Item Weight : 13.3 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.5 x 0.97 x 8.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #143,819 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #141 in Theory of Economics
- #394 in Popular Culture in Social Sciences
- #438 in Popular Social Psychology & Interactions
- Customer Reviews:
About the authors

Steven D. Levitt teaches economics at the University of Chicago. His idiosyncratic economic research into areas as varied as guns and game shows has triggered debate in the media and academic circles.

Stephen J. Dubner is an award-winning author, journalist, and radio and TV personality. He quit his first career—as an almost-rock-star—to become a writer. He has worked for The New York Times and published three non-Freakonomics books. He lives with his family in New York City.
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Top reviews from the United States
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Great book and an easy read. Provides the reader with a different way of thinking about the world. Rather than thinking like everyone else (or not thinking at all like everyone else), it helps you to realize that you need to look at things from a different perspective and recognize that things are not as obvious as they seem. So many people just accept what they hear from someone else and do not bother to question and prove it for themselves. Does a nice job of inspiring you to "think like a Freak" and gives some nice examples where what people had accepted as true were not even close. Also gives some helpful examples of how to create experiments to get the data needed to draw accurate conclusions.
Some of the reviewers of this book complained that the stories told and data on which conclusions were drawn did not site sources. Apparently these reviewers did not bother do go beyond the last chapter. The book includes all of the source and data citations at the back of the book.
To me, the reason that many can't be persuaded of the immanent threat of global warming is that those who are saying that the threat is immanent aren't acting like it in their personal behavior. Barack "the science is settled" Obama flew Michelle on Air Force One to New York City for a "date night" early in his presidency. He takes multiple vacations on Air Force One while she arrives at the same destination hours later on her own plane. Al Gore flies around on private jets, lives in enormous houses and sold his Current TV station to the oil enriched Al Jazeera. Robert Kennedy Jr won't allow wind turbines near his property. It's as if your next door neighbor told you that you live in a dangerous, high crime area and that you must install iron bars on your windows and stay inside with the doors and windows locked. Meanwhile he sunbathing in his front yard with the doors and windows wide open and his children playing in the street (later you find out that he owns a company that sells iron bars/carbon credits).
What makes this book so good is that it is full of great stories that introduce and back up valuable lessons that have the power to change your thinking. This book challenges how we currently think while giving some practical ways to think differently. It has been said that our lives move in the direction of our strongest thoughts, so to apply new thinking concepts from experts should positively affect our thinking and therefore our lives.
A large portion of the book is devoted to problem-solving. It shares concepts such as thinking like a child, redefining a problem, and attacking the root cause all woven through some nicely shared stories. The stories are valuable to helping the concepts stick in the brain. Stories deeply resonant with people and are memorable. In fact, after reading this book, I aspire to be a better storyteller as there is so much value in it as a skillset to possess.
The chapter about quitting revealed a big upside to quitting things that take up time, space, energy, and the likes without benefit. Or perhaps, it is time to quit one thing to be able to move on from something that is not working: a job, a relationship, a career, etc. Quitting seems like it would only apply to losers, but after reading the chapter, I understand that sometimes we continue to do things for the sake of commitment only. That reason alone needs to be weighed as sometimes one must let go to move into something more worthwhile, to the next season, or calling. The authors do not suggest quitting everything and doing nothing, but rather, to see that quitting does not equate to failure as many have been taught.
I would recommend this read, especially if you solve problems a lot. Again, it is quick, easy, and interesting. This book will challenge your status quo of thinking and give you some new concepts as replacements.
There are some clever and valuable observations and certainly an interesting way at looking at thins differently. However, the narrative is not very smooth. They seem to jump a bit helter skelter...especially in a chapter that begins with education generalizations only to end with an extremely long winded explanation of hot dog eating techniques. This was by far my least favorite chapter.
If you are like me and subscribe to podcasts from the Freakonomics guys...then you will find the stories very familiar. I found myself knowing the full arc of most every argument posed before the first paragraph was complete.
A short and quick read that may be a sentimental purchase to have the third book from the fellas...but not a home run that will try. You into the freak kind of thinker they claim to be fostering through your read!
Top reviews from other countries
perspective of seeing things/ situation differently. Many Time we are not aware about actual root cause of the issue, it only comes to know after thinking like freak.
Good read
Totalmente recomendado para las personas que nos gusta ver las cosas diferentes.

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