I was reading Made to Stick last summer while my family was on vacation in Newport Beach. My sister asked what the book was about and I told her. She then said, “Have you heard of the book Freakonomics?” I told her no and she proceeded to tell me about the book and why I would like it. I agreed that it sounded interesting so I went on a hunt to find the cheapest copy I could find. I didn’t find any that were cheap enough for me to grab until I found a free one at my parents house of all places. My dad had it on his bookshelf so I grabbed it and read it.

I thought it was an interesting book and anyone interested in Economics or Cultural Anthropology should definitely read it. It is an easy read and shouldn’t take long to get through it.

The first chapter starts out by asking “What do Schoolteachers and Sumo Wrestlers Have in Common?” The chapter goes on to tell how the two are related and to my surprise it is because they are both cheaters in some regards. Levitt went on to tell about a study he had conducted dealing with Schoolteachers in Chicago and their students standardized testing results. Levitt found that some Schoolteachers cheat to make their students look smarter when in reality they aren’t smarter. Levitt then goes on to talk about Sumo Wrestlers and how they cheat in certain situations during a tournament to make other wrestlers have a better chance of winning and having a higher rank.

This is the just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the interesting studies in this book. Perhaps the most contentious section is when Levitt claims that legalizing abortions in the Roe v. Wade case lowered the crime rate in the 1990s.

What do you think? Have you read this book? Comment below…