Superfreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance / by Stephen Leavitt and Stephen J. Dubner

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In 2005, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner wrote Freakonomics, a wildly successful book full of interesting stories and anecdotes about why incentives matter to consumers and how actions can have multiple, unforeseeable consequences. Many of these same speculations, weird coincidences and astounding correlatives fill their new book Superfreakonomics, the sequel to the original bestseller. Primary interest points included in this new volume concern the economical benefits of being a prostitute, how supplementing the atmosphere with sulfuric compounds might help solve global warming, why car seats may not be a safer alternative than seat belts and how walking home drunk may be a more dangerous alternative to driving home drunk.

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Some parts of this book seem intended solely for offering quirky factoids on society rather than comment on how economic incentives really do have any practical application. Superfreakonomics is an easy, readable book to get into and most readers could finish it in two to three sittings. But it seems to enhance "economical" aspects of our lives which, while carrying some realistic weight, contain more charming and trivial significance than any authentic relevance. Leavitt and Dubner are well-researched, drawing their material from every conceivable field--economics, psychology, sociology, anthropology, physics, etc.--and produce a book which is a very interesting read. But it doesn't seem to have any real objective, any purpose for advocating a need for being aware of why, say, certain shady, slightly unethical professions are sureproof get rich schemes while other law-abiding careers are doomed. Much of the book's concluding analysis sounds as if the authors are facilitating arguments for one cause or another simply for the sake of providing a better alternative.