Hidden Side of Things

I picked up the book “Freakonomics” in the book fest early this month. I bought it for 2 reasons: the anticipation of some eye-openers to the world economy like the book ”The World is Flat” and of course, the book economic price. Indeed, it was an eye-opener but to something a little bit different than economic, thus the title freakonomics.

The claim on the book, ”The hidden side of everything” sounds a little bit spooky but I love it! And the very interesting questions the book is trying to answer:

How did the legalization of abortion affect the rate of violent crime?
What is the probability that a real-estate agent is cheating you?
Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool?
What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common?
Why do drug dealers still live with their moms?
How much do parents really matter?
How much do person name has impact on them?

And More...

Why Google is still so great, at least to me? :)
Why Vote when the odds of your vote actually affecting the outcome in a given election is as slim as winning a lottery?
Can fear of AIDS change sexual preference?
What are the differences between a really bad customer service (Rancid Chicken) and a good one (Vegas Rule)?
Is it possible to encourage organ donation - if you agree to donate your organs when you die then you’ll receive a better chance of getting an organ if you ever need one to live?

The book was fun to read. In fact, I feel I can correlate to the author in a lot of ways. Here are what important qualities of the authors and the book.

• Curiosity - able to question things and always seeking for answer.
• Analytic thinking - able to collect data, put bits and parcels, seeing the correlation and come out with different solutions.
  
• Randomness - it is not necessary to write or blog on a single theme.
  
• Provocative - dare to stray from conventional wisdom.

Here is the interesting illustration of the hidden side of thing on the front book cover. I only realized what it is after I finished the book.

From a far glance on the book cover, people would have thought I was reading a book on dieting! (In fact, a friendly stranger had told me this).