28. “Freakonomics,” Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

Interesting and a quick read, but I feel pretty dubious about many of the conclusions Levitt reaches. I’m no John Bates Clark Medal-winner, but I can’t help but think that most events are the result of more than one thing coming together. So saying that legalizing abortion in resulted in the 1990s dip in crime might be partially true, but it is certainly not the only cause. But it’s not as interesting to say that an event is the result of many causes as it is to attribute it to the fact that poor, undereducated, unwed mothers were free to terminate their pregnancies in record numbers, thereby reducing the pool of the people who most frequently commit crimes. Which may be true, but is almost certainly not the whole truth.

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