So I'm on to my second attempt to "read" a non-fiction book via CD. This time it's FREAKONOMICS. I really wanted to like this one better than THE TIPPING POINT, not just to prove that non-fiction books can be entertaining and enjoyable, but because one of the authors, Steven Levitt, is an economics professor at the University of Chicago, where I went to business school. The book even references an econ professor I had, Gary Becker, who is also a nobel laureaete.

I am enjoying the book, but not as much as I'd hoped. I'm having much of the same reaction I had to THE TIPPING POINT: just not enough meat. Maybe these books aren't meant to be meaty, but I was really looking for economics' version of a 16 oz. T-bone and instead it's more like a meatloaf. But I like meatloaf. As a matter of fact, I made it last week with a recipe that is to die for. Truly the best meatloaf I've ever tasted. Perhaps I'll post it here one day and share it with the rest of the world.

But on to FREAKONOMICS. One thing I have enjoyed is that the authors brought up the "broken windows theory" that was also addressed in the THE TIPPING POINT. It was actually my favorite part of THE TIPPING POINT, as I said. What I found interesting was the Levitt and Dubner actually dispute that the broken windows theory contributed to the decline in crime in NYC, as outlined in TTP, that taking care of the "little" things like turnstile jumping led to a decrease in other crimes. So that was fun, and quite unexpected. I've also enjoyed the part about the Black Gangster Disciples and the economics of crack dealing. But I enjoyed the story of the U of C PhD student living in the housing projects of Chicago collecting the data more than the outcome of the data, which wasn't as groundbreaking as I'd been looking for.

I'm still not done with the book, so I look forward to learning more. Then it's on to BLINK, by the same author as TTP. After that, I don't know what I'll listen to, but hopefully I'll find another non-fiction book to order by then.