My library is crammed with books on management, people skills, how to be the ‘perfect this’ and the ‘flawless that.’ I read all of the time. I sleep with my head on a book. I eat with a book in my hands. (My Dad used to say he’d buy me books and buy me books and all I’d do is eat them. Not true!)
After a while I get tired of reading the same old dry stuff and need to feed myself with thought provoking humor coupled with substantive information. The books I like the best make me think about my own situation both as a consultant and in the real world. And they don’t necessarily tell me step by step how to do something. They cause me to think and learn and look at things differently.
Those are precisely the elements that make “Freakonomics” a great read. The authors, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, use examples that are often taken as facts and look behind the scenes to show us the real picture.
With chapter titles like “What do Sumo Wrestlers and Schoolteachers Have in Common?” and portions that ask “Why early drug dealers were like Microsoft and why later dealers are more like Pets.com?” you never lose interest. They even have a great section devoted to names – as in, do you have to have the right name to be successful? No, you may say. But read on! It get’s better! They tie this theme back into what makes a great parent and how books are involved.
What the reader ends up with is the solid idea that all is not what it seems. That the myths and legends out there are really just indicators and don’t tell the whole story. We get a fresh look at and reminder that facts aren’t always facts. Keep digging.
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