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Freakonomics -- OOPS!

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by TheSportsPredictor, Dec 15, 2011.

  1. TheSportsPredictor

    TheSportsPredictor Well-Known Member

    I, as many, loved Freakonomics when it came out.

    Contrary to contrary opinion, it's all a bunch of BS:

    http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/pub/freakonomics-what-went-wrong/1
     
  2. Ben_Hecht

    Ben_Hecht Active Member



    Glib?

    Smug?

    Nah. Couldn't be.
     
  3. RickStain

    RickStain Well-Known Member

    It's entertainment. Being lied to isn't entertaining. Therefore I assumed it all to be true. QED.
     
  4. doctorquant

    doctorquant Well-Known Member

    "It's all a bunch of BS" is overstating it just a tad, don't you think?
     
  5. Bob Cook

    Bob Cook Active Member

    Doctorquant, as a stats guy, you have to admit, the book looked shaky when it failed to introduce quanitative models such as VORDD (value our replacement drug dealer).
     
  6. See, when I read the books, I thought they were an interesting tour through the world of work that was being done in statistics and economics, which remains true even after reading the article. I never got the impression they thought they were writing the definitive book on turning your world upside-down. They report on research being done by others, and they do a pretty good job of it. And they approach it like science - if you read their blog, they readily admit when even more recent research shows their original assertions were wrong. They treat it like scientists in that even their most closely held worldview is open to change if someone comes up with a more apt theory for explaining it.

    It's like having to write a story on a new discovery by a local university's biology department. You get their info, do some interviews, call a few other independent expert sources to get some input on the importance or viability of the research, and write up your findings. Undoubtedly, rival Crosstown U's biology department will come out with a study debating those findings in six months.
     
  7. TigerVols

    TigerVols Well-Known Member

    At first blink, I figured the book was a fraud.
     
  8. J-School Blue

    J-School Blue Member

    This. My only disappointment is that pseudo-celebrity appears to have made these guys lazy about digging into the research they report on. The book raises some interesting questions, and it's a fun read, but it's pure pop-corn science.
     
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