Finished Reading Freakonomics

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

Oh Freakonomics.  What can I say about this book?!?  It was extremely interesting and held up to what everyone was saying about it.  I was definitely dazzled!  I mean, when you read, right in the first couple of pages, that the reason for the drop in crime in the 1990's and early 2000's was not due to innovative police tactics, but to legalized abortion, well that gets your attention!

Steven Levitt has an incredible way of looking at data and presenting it to you in way that is easy to understand.  How he compares groups is somewhat surprising, like what do real estate agents and the Ku Klux Klan have in common, and you would be shocked to realize they actually DO have something in common.  The out of the box thinking and comparing done in this book blew my mind.  I'm not sure it I truly buy into everything he says in it, but I have absolutely walked away with an open mind as far as data and the economics of things goes. 

The parts I especially liked where the ones where he asked if parents really matter, and what's in a name.  It will have everyone who reads it questioning why their parents picked the name for them, and if they made the right choice when they named their own children!

For me it was a home run, 5 out of 5 and I can't wait to ready SUPERFreakonomics!

First Book Read of the New Year - Sizzle

Sizzle - By Julie Garwood.  I really enjoyed this book.  A thriller, suspense mystery that wasn't too intellectual to be entertaining.  The setting in sunny California was typical and the main characters were young hard bodies who, predictably hooked up.  The sex scenes were okay, not great writing, and the ending was also predictable.

It took me about 24 hours total to get through this book, which is not a lot of time, so it was an  easy read with an easy flow, even after taking pain meds for a tonsillectomy surgery.

The only thing that left me hanging in the end was the relationship between the main character, Lyra's, parents and her grandmother was never fully resolved.  There was still a lingering conflict that I wanted to have buttoned up but it never was.  I have to wonder if Julie Garwood is planning to write a sequel or not.

All in all I would give it a 3 out of 5!