Freakonomics

"If Books Could Kill" is a anti-recommendation podcast. Instead of pointing out which thinkers have brought useful ideas to the world, the hosts Michael Hobbes and Peter Shamshiri discuss those "airport books" which they regard to have been “the superspreader events of American stupidity”. In the first episode of the podcast, they discuss the bestselling book"Freakonomics" by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. They point out some of the countless flaws of the book, critising its shallowness, oversimplification and leaning towards a conservative reading of some large societal issues.

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Comment from our editors:

Having started in November 2022, the podcast "If Books Could Kill" is a recent, very fascinating podcast format. By examining “the dumb books that captured our collective imagination” it takes an unusual appraoch. It is not an amateur project though, but hosted by two professionals who clearly research thoroughly their episodes by going back to the scientific literature and present their ideas in a clear and well-spoken manner. The episode on Freakonomics is a very welcome revision which anyone who considers to read the book Freakonomics should listen to in order to know what to expect from this best seller.

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