Review: Freakonomics

Freakonomics

Yes, I'm late to the party. Levitt & Dubner actually visited Google a few months ago, but by then I already had the book on the queue at the Santa Clara County Library. It's a great read, covering everything from crime to sumo wrestling and the defeat of the Ku Klux Klan by Superman (a true story!). Highly recommended!


Recall for a moment the two boys, one white and one black, who were described in chapter 5. The white boy who grew up outside Chicago had smart, solid encouraging, loving parents who stressed education and family. The black boy from Daytona Beach was abandoned by his mother, was beaten by his father, and had become a full-fledged ganster by his teens. So what became of the two boys?

The second child, now twenty-seven years old, is Roland G. Fryer Jr., the Harvard economist studying black underachievement.

The white child also made it to Harvard. But soon after, things went badly for him. His name is Ted Kaczynski.