Freakonomics a book recommendation

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I recently read Freakonomics by Harvard economist Steven Levitt and N.Y.Times reporter Stephen Dubner. Levitt has made a career of shattering preconceived ideas by going to the source data or just the source. Some of the topics: --the decline in US crime over the last ten/ fifteen years is largely a result of the legalization of abortion; if a woman decides on her own that she is incapable of raising a child, she is probably right. If she did raise the child, it would have a much higher than average tendency to adopt the criminal lifestyle. The decline began in the late 80s and ran completely counter to the predictions of the leading criminologists of the time, also the police chiefs, politicians, reporters, and just about every average person in America, who thought we were descending into criminal anarchy. Oh, and the "experts" all retroactively reversed their positions; too bad they can't destroy all the newspaper articles and books they wrote back then. --if you are selling a house, your real estate agent has almost no incentive to get the best deal for you. She will probably urge you to take the first offer. The language of the ad subliminally clues you into whether the agent is inviting a low ball offer. Agents use terms like granite, marble, Corian when they sell their own homes -- highly specific attractive features. "Spacious", "well maintained", etc. are words of weak praise that say bid low for this turkey. This part should be mandatory reading for everyone. Before putting trust in an agent, check what incentives the agent has to operate against you.--most drug dealers live at home with their moms and make less than the minimum wage. The money goes to a handful at the top of the pyramid, just as in any "multi-level sales organization" -- see Herbalife for a legal example.--a child in a family with a swimming pool is at 200 times greater risk of death than a child in a family with a gun in the house.If you have read the reviews in Time, etc., then you may be a little disappointed, this is a slim book, and the reviews tend to give away too many surprises.I recommend it because it's a light, fun read, it's a much-needed call for scientific thought in a field (or fields, economics and sociology) where politics and bigotry contaminate most written thought, and it's a good caution against putting your faith in your real estate agent or any other self-described expert .