Tuesday, November 10, 2009

One and done....

Got a couple of posts percolating in my brain, but I read the most interesting take down of new book "Superfreakonimics".

Now there are many facets to this argument. But I must say Elizabeth Kolbert has perhaps the best one. With this passage standing out:

But what’s most troubling about “SuperFreakonomics” isn’t the authors’ many blunders; it’s the whole spirit of the enterprise. Though climate change is a grave problem, Levitt and Dubner treat it mainly as an opportunity to show how clever they are. Leaving aside the question of whether geoengineering, as it is known in scientific circles, is even possible—have you ever tried sending an eighteen-mile-long hose into the stratosphere?—their analysis is terrifyingly cavalier.
There are some other well thought out and thorough take downs here, here and here.

-Cheers

2 comments:

tyler said...

hmm... so the freakonomics authors talk about a contentious subject in their latest book?

sounds like a great way to sell more books. i guess that levitt guy's a pretty good economist.

RomanX said...

You may be on to something there sir. But it is still very sloppy thinking, especially when you are criticizing others for that very thing.