Think Like a Freak: The Authors of Freakonomics Offer to Retrain Your Brain - Softcover

Levitt, Steven D.; Dubner, Stephen J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0062295926 ISBN 13: 9780062295927

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2015

Synopsis

The New York Times bestselling Freakonomics changed the way we see the world, exposing the hidden side of just about everything. Then came SuperFreakonomics, a documentary film, an award-winning podcast, and more.

Now, with Think Like a Freak, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner have written their most revolutionary book yet. With their trademark blend of captivating storytelling and unconventional analysis, they take us inside their thought process and teach us all to think a bit more productively, more creatively, more rationally--to think, that is, like a Freak.

Levitt and Dubner offer a blueprint for an entirely new way to solve problems, whether your interest lies in minor lifehacks or major global reforms. As always, no topic is off-limits. They range from business to philanthropy to sports to politics, all with the goal of retraining your brain. Along the way, you'll learn the secrets of a Japanese hot-dog-eating champion, the reason an Australian doctor swallowed a batch of dangerous bacteria, and why Nigerian e-mail scammers make a point of saying they're from Nigeria.

Some of the steps toward thinking like a Freak:

• First, put away your moral compass--because it's hard to see a problem clearly if you've already decided what to do about it.
• Learn to say "I don't know"--for until you can admit what you don't yet know, it's virtually impossible to learn what you need to.
• Think like a child--because you'll come up with better ideas and ask better questions.
• Take a master class in incentives--because for better or worse, incentives rule our world.
• Learn to persuade people who don't want to be persuaded--because being right is rarely enough to carry the day.
• Learn to appreciate the upside of quitting--because you can't solve tomorrow's problem if you aren't willing to abandon today's dud.

Levitt and Dubner plainly see the world like no one else. Now you can too. Never before have such iconoclastic thinkers been so revealing--and so much fun to read.

About this title

Review

"Good ideas... expressed with panache."--Financial Times

"An interesting and thought-provoking read."--The Horn

"Compelling and fun."--New York Post

"This book will change your life."--Daily Express (London)

"Their most revolutionary book yet. With their trademark blend of captivating storytelling and unconventional analysis, they take us inside their thought process and teach us all to think a bit more productively, more creatively, more rationally --- to think, that is, like a Freak."--Bookreporter.com

"Over nine entertaining chapters [Levitt and Dubner] demonstrate how not to fall into hackneyed approaches to solving problems and concretely illustrate how to reframe questions."--New York Daily News

"Utterly captivating."--Malcolm Gladwell, New York Times bestselling author of Blink, The Tipping Point, and David and Goliath

From the Back Cover

The New York Times bestselling Freakonomics changed the way we see the world, exposing the hidden side of just about everything.

Now, with Think Like a Freak, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner have written their most revolutionary book yet. With their trademark blend of captivating storytelling and unconventional analysis, they take us inside their thought process and offer a blueprint for an entirely new way to solve problems. The topics range from business to philanthropy to sports to politics, all with the goal of retraining your brain. Along the way, you'll learn the secrets of a Japanese hot-dog-eating champion, the reason an Australian doctor swallowed a batch of dangerous bacteria, and why Nigerian e-mail scammers make a point of saying they're from Nigeria.

Levitt and Dubner plainly see the world like no one else. Now you can too. Never before have such iconoclastic thinkers been so revealing--and so much fun to read.

Edition details

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0062295926
• ISBN 13: 9780062295927
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288