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eknowledger's review against another edition
4.0
A great book as expected from two great authors! If you have read any of Freakonomics books, listened to the podcast, or watched the documentary; you know you're here for a treat.
I would say though the only drawback of the book its length! it is very short, and will leave you wanting more! BUT at least you can read it more than once in a weekend, I know i will :)
Here are some of the main themes and notes i took while reading:
* Sometimes shooting to the middle is the boldest move to do
* When Political Leaders based their decisions on personal moral compass factuality is out of the window
* Don't be embarrassed about things you don't know!
* for most people it's very hard to say "I don't know"
* Until you recognize what you don't know you can't acquire the knowledge for it
* Facts vs Beliefs (Does the devil exist?)
* Prediction is very difficult especially if it is about the future!
* What we know vs what we think by political / religious beliefs
* Multi Dimensional cause-effect (Very hard to relate cause and effect)
* Read: Why most economist are wrong?! (over estimate the impact of the technology in the future)
* It costs almost nothing to pretend you know what will happen in the future
* Cost of saying "I don't know" is higher than the cost of "Bluffing" !
* When predication is not correct what incentive should be made to stop making them?
* Valuable Feedback
* Redefine the problem
* The limits we accept or refuse
* Barriers and expectations (may be ignoring it help solving hard problems)
* Think like a child
* sometimes thinking like 8 years old can generate the best creative ideas
* preconception make us role out a wide range of idea
* As long as you know the difference between good and bad idea, generating a bool of idea is a good thing
* Cool off: Never act on a new idea for at least 24 hours! New ideas sounds cool when it is just hatched :)
* channeling your inner child
* To think like a freak: is to think small not big
* Little with certainty
* Ask small question is better than asking big ones
* change is hard, change on small scale is easier
* uncertainty is less on a small scale
* Start from complete ignorance
* raw talent is overrated
* endless practice
* it is important to have fun so you can have endless practice
* "Do not listen to what people say; instead watch what they do"
* Moral, financial, social incentives and herd mentality
* Persuasion: The power of telling a story
* Most people are blind to their blind spot
* Don't insult people if u want to persuade them with your idea
* Smart and more educated people are harder to change mind; because they are used to be right it is hard to see themselves wrong
* See the positives in other people argument
* Story: "Multidimensional" vs Anecdote: "One-Dimensional"
* A quitter never wins, and a winner never quits
* Sunk Costs: the time, money, equity, or resources you've already spent on a project
* The Sunk Cost Fallacy: throwing good money after bad
* tendency to focus on concrete costs and pay too little attention to opportunity cost.
* Civilization is an aggressive, almost maniacal chronicler of success.
* When failure is demonized, people will try to avoid it at all costs
* http://www.freakonomicsexperiments.com/
I would say though the only drawback of the book its length! it is very short, and will leave you wanting more! BUT at least you can read it more than once in a weekend, I know i will :)
Here are some of the main themes and notes i took while reading:
* Sometimes shooting to the middle is the boldest move to do
* When Political Leaders based their decisions on personal moral compass factuality is out of the window
* Don't be embarrassed about things you don't know!
* for most people it's very hard to say "I don't know"
* Until you recognize what you don't know you can't acquire the knowledge for it
* Facts vs Beliefs (Does the devil exist?)
* Prediction is very difficult especially if it is about the future!
* What we know vs what we think by political / religious beliefs
* Multi Dimensional cause-effect (Very hard to relate cause and effect)
* Read: Why most economist are wrong?! (over estimate the impact of the technology in the future)
* It costs almost nothing to pretend you know what will happen in the future
* Cost of saying "I don't know" is higher than the cost of "Bluffing" !
* When predication is not correct what incentive should be made to stop making them?
* Valuable Feedback
* Redefine the problem
* The limits we accept or refuse
* Barriers and expectations (may be ignoring it help solving hard problems)
* Think like a child
* sometimes thinking like 8 years old can generate the best creative ideas
* preconception make us role out a wide range of idea
* As long as you know the difference between good and bad idea, generating a bool of idea is a good thing
* Cool off: Never act on a new idea for at least 24 hours! New ideas sounds cool when it is just hatched :)
* channeling your inner child
* To think like a freak: is to think small not big
* Little with certainty
* Ask small question is better than asking big ones
* change is hard, change on small scale is easier
* uncertainty is less on a small scale
* Start from complete ignorance
* raw talent is overrated
* endless practice
* it is important to have fun so you can have endless practice
* "Do not listen to what people say; instead watch what they do"
* Moral, financial, social incentives and herd mentality
* Persuasion: The power of telling a story
* Most people are blind to their blind spot
* Don't insult people if u want to persuade them with your idea
* Smart and more educated people are harder to change mind; because they are used to be right it is hard to see themselves wrong
* See the positives in other people argument
* Story: "Multidimensional" vs Anecdote: "One-Dimensional"
* A quitter never wins, and a winner never quits
* Sunk Costs: the time, money, equity, or resources you've already spent on a project
* The Sunk Cost Fallacy: throwing good money after bad
* tendency to focus on concrete costs and pay too little attention to opportunity cost.
* Civilization is an aggressive, almost maniacal chronicler of success.
* When failure is demonized, people will try to avoid it at all costs
* http://www.freakonomicsexperiments.com/
tovetott's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
5.0
This is a re-read, and I think I emjoyed this just as much this time around as I did the first lol.
It's a very lighthearted but really solid book about how to get better at problem solving by thinking outside the box, or redraw the box altogether in a different way. I love how the authors bring up a whole bunch of real-life scenarios of when people made daunting and difficult issues, records and problems down to a much more managable level by looking at them in a different way!
Many problems and decisions we face today on a daily basis often fall into a "can't see the forest for all the trees"-category, and it's easy to get stuck on the "obvious" solutions that, but this book really helps you take a step back and realize that maybe there is a much easier solution staring you in the face.
Overall, had a great time ! 👏👏 This one will definitely stay on my shelf for a good while until the next re-read 😁🩷
It's a very lighthearted but really solid book about how to get better at problem solving by thinking outside the box, or redraw the box altogether in a different way. I love how the authors bring up a whole bunch of real-life scenarios of when people made daunting and difficult issues, records and problems down to a much more managable level by looking at them in a different way!
Many problems and decisions we face today on a daily basis often fall into a "can't see the forest for all the trees"-category, and it's easy to get stuck on the "obvious" solutions that, but this book really helps you take a step back and realize that maybe there is a much easier solution staring you in the face.
Overall, had a great time ! 👏👏 This one will definitely stay on my shelf for a good while until the next re-read 😁🩷
yuu3008's review against another edition
3.0
The fact that this is the third (and the last) book of the "freak" series give some hints of how repetitious it is, and please don't expect anything more than a typical run of the mill writing of similar self-help books. They gave some examples of how "freak" thoughts actually work in real-life, from the secret to guzzle 50+ sausages in less than 10 min, to the one "miracle" line to make people donate more and such, hmm interesting but not very convincing.
In a nutshell, this book encourages you to be open-minded, or they would say, "think like a freak", by admitting ignorance, to be studious. Conventional wisdom or endurance is not the sole key to success. Once you jumped out of the mainstream ideology and got insights about how things truly work, be bold enough to quit and go your own way.
In a nutshell, this book encourages you to be open-minded, or they would say, "think like a freak", by admitting ignorance, to be studious. Conventional wisdom or endurance is not the sole key to success. Once you jumped out of the mainstream ideology and got insights about how things truly work, be bold enough to quit and go your own way.
terminus1066's review against another edition
3.0
Ok, not as good as previous Freakanomics books. Felt rather short. Tries to go into methodology but doesn't go deep enough, instead more time is spent on stories.
photojeff's review against another edition
3.0
Made some interesting points, but their content involving Intellectual Ventures kind of clashes with This American Life's, and I think I trust TAL more than the Freaks on this subject.
manoushp109's review against another edition
4.0
short and interesting! quick read, forgettable, but good
hflinders's review against another edition
4.0
I love his podcast too, and it's just like the book. Gets you thinking about popular topics and how it's hard to have all the information.