Thursday, June 14, 2012

Afterward: An Epilogue to Freakonomics


Freakonomics is an entertaining book about the statistics of life. It challenges you to rethink how seemingly unrelated events and occurrences can actually, unknowingly have a huge effect on one another. The chapters that I liked the most and think inspired the greatest conversation, was chapter 4: why do drugs dealers still live at home, and chapter 6: A Roshawnda by any other name. What I found particularly interesting, was how the economic infrastructure of a drug dealer hierarchy almost directly mirrored how a successful legitimate business operates. Also, how much, or more accurately, how “less” the people that actually sell the drugs are paid, about $3.30 an hour. One of the remark that circled or discussion was “Man, this drug game ain’t workin’ out! I gotta go get me a real job, so I can afford to sell drugs again”. The discussions that resulted from A Roshawnda by any other name, was just as lively. We talked about the perceptions associated with a person’s character, their parents, and their socioeconomic background, all based upon their name.
The way that Freakonomics was written was a little hit and miss at times but, overall they were able to get their points across

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