Book Review | Think Like a Freak by Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner

Think Like a Freak by Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner

In the third instalment in the “Freakonomics” series, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner drop the economic case studies but cover a broad range of topics trying to deliver a toolkit for thinking differently about problems.

The authors cover everything from politics, sports, philanthropy and even a hot-dog-eating champion, all to challenge conventional thinking. To think like a freak, as they describe it, means working terribly hard to identify and attack the root cause of problems. The book helps explain why it’s so hard to say, “I don’t know” and why kids learn so much faster than adults.

For anyone who wants to step outside their comfort zone and have their beliefs and thought processes challenged, this book is for you.

Key quotes from the book include:

• Incentives are the cornerstone of modern life. And understanding them – or, deciphering them – is the key to understanding a problem, and how it might be solved.
• It has long been said that the three hardest words to say in the English language are I love you. We heartily disagree! For most people, it is much harder to say I don’t know.
• The key to learning is feedback. It is nearly impossible to learn anything without it.
• Best we can tell, there is no correlation between appearing to be serious and actually being good at what you do.

Link to Book

View more NAOS podcasts and book reviews