The first half of the novel, Freakonomics, was very interesting. Levitt and Dubner opened my eyes to the reasoning behind past and current issues. For example, what do teachers and sumo wrestlers have in common? Cheating. Teachers cheat in order to raise test scores for a raise or promotion, whereas sumo wrestlers cheat in order to gain prestige and wealth in sumo competitions. The novel often brought up the topic of incentives, that people work, coerce, or do whatever it takes because of that incentive. Is it true that real state agents really do what's best for the clients? Research and evidence shows that even if the price of the house could go up, agents rarely go through that extra work and advertising because their additional commission would be very small.
The authors were Steven Levitt, an economics professor at the University of Chicago, and Stephen Dubner, an author for the New York Times. The collaboration of these two prestigious scholars makes for a reliable, truthful, and intelligent novel.
This book is very important in context, because it acts as a myth buster. The novel utilizes actual data and research to back up its truthful claims, which are about current issues.
The purpose of this book was to manifest the unknown and hidden side of issues and events from the past and today. The book had a purpose of making known the real reasons behind happenings and issues.
The text was written for the general public.
The novel contains ethos. In order to make known to the readers that the authors are credible, it included multiple articles published about Levitt. Levitt and Dubner also made sure to insert actual evidence to make their points more substantiated and reliable, such as actual results from the Chicago public school system testing, and evidence from the houses that real estate agents sell. In addition, snippets of articles about Levitt were included, which were published in the prestigious New York Times. All of these factors played an important role in establishing credibility and reliability in this novel.
The author's purpose of revealing the unknown reasoning behind certain issues was certainly accomplished. The reasons were not something that any layperson could have predicted, but was meticulously established with much evidence and reasoning by Levitt and Dubner. My mind was blown when I read about cheating teachers and dishonest real estate agents. The overall topics of this novel were very interesting, which made for a very enjoyable read.
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