Steven D. LevittThink Like a Freak: The Authors of Freakonomics Offer to Retrain Your Brain

“Think Like a Freak” is a thought provoking and at times unorthodox look at how it is possible to retrain the human brain to make impactful decisions.I thoroughly enjoyed the format of the book. The authors present big picture ideas and questions followed with illustrations of real-world antidotes. The stories appear so delightfully random and varied. It is fascinating to have a book that weaves together colonialism, birth rates, famine, crime rates, Bon Jovi, intestinal microbes, a hot dog eating contest, and Winston Churchill. They weave together modern-day urban legends and historical stories to highlight a unique perspective of the choices we make. It creates a fascinating and captivating story of economics and social decisions. How does human nature determine our decisions? Are we capable of making intelligent independent decisions or are we predestined to repeat the same mistakes? I love a book that comes full circle and Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner take seemingly random stories and connect them back to their message.This book features an at times unconventional approach to problem solving and is a fast read. The book tackles some fairly weighty issues in a lighthearted manner. They also take our preconceived notions and turn them completely upside down. I saw applications for their approach to tackling problems in business situations, educational environments, and personal life choices. A lot of the book was applicable to instructional design. How powerful would it be to be aware of how people make decisions and learn before designing a course. What if business entrepreneurs thought about not just their product and profit at a surface level but about how to create something truly impactful and successful in the long term?One of my biggest takeaways from this book was to find something that you love to do and obsess about it. So simple but so powerful. It is obvious from reading this book that Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner love what they do.

As a huge fan of the podcast, I read this entire book with Dubner's voice in my head. That was awesome.The downside of the book for someone who's been following along with Freakonomics Radio over the past few years is that there's very little "new" here. A quick perusal through the citations section reveals a lot of references to the podcast, and to research that's been featured in the podcast. So if you're looking for brand new stories, this is perhaps not the book in which you'll find them.That said, I think the book succeeds in providing a more comprehensive synthesis of various things the podcast and the other books have addressed. As other reviewers (and the book itself) point out, the approach is more prescriptive and practical. In that respect, I found the book valuable in describing an approach to thinking as opposed to delving into a clever new case study.My reading experience was essentially the book saying, "Here's a core approach to critical thinking/problem solving, and here's how the stories we've examined before illustrate the value of that approach." So while not many of the stories were new, they were presented in a unique way which illustrated things from a different angle than I'd experienced them when listening on the podcast.It did not take me very long to read - I basically knocked it out over the course of one day.I'd recommend the book to people unfamiliar to the podcast, people who want to support Dubner/Levitt/Freakonomics, and to people who just like to spend time with some of the stories they've heard before.

This is the first time I have read a book by the authors, but I plan to read their previous books. This is such an easy, yet thought-provoking read. As someone who regularly solves problems and looks for ways to improve processes, I am excited to apply some of the lessons learned from this book.What makes this book so good is that it is full of great stories that introduce and back up valuable lessons that have the power to change your thinking. This book challenges how we currently think while giving some practical ways to think differently. It has been said that our lives move in the direction of our strongest thoughts, so to apply new thinking concepts from experts should positively affect our thinking and therefore our lives.A large portion of the book is devoted to problem-solving. It shares concepts such as thinking like a child, redefining a problem, and attacking the root cause all woven through some nicely shared stories. The stories are valuable to helping the concepts stick in the brain. Stories deeply resonant with people and are memorable. In fact, after reading this book, I aspire to be a better storyteller as there is so much value in it as a skillset to possess.The chapter about quitting revealed a big upside to quitting things that take up time, space, energy, and the likes without benefit. Or perhaps, it is time to quit one thing to be able to move on from something that is not working: a job, a relationship, a career, etc. Quitting seems like it would only apply to losers, but after reading the chapter, I understand that sometimes we continue to do things for the sake of commitment only. That reason alone needs to be weighed as sometimes one must let go to move into something more worthwhile, to the next season, or calling. The authors do not suggest quitting everything and doing nothing, but rather, to see that quitting does not equate to failure as many have been taught.I would recommend this read, especially if you solve problems a lot. Again, it is quick, easy, and interesting. This book will challenge your status quo of thinking and give you some new concepts as replacements.