Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Introduction
The book starts off by explaining the crime rate drop in the United States during the 1990s. The authors go over the possible reasons why the crime rate drops and then concludes by explaining that abortion was the reason. If anyone ever would have asked me what made the crime rate drop in the 1990s, abortion would of never even crossed my mind. It does seem very logical though. The kids who came into this world with parents who neglected them in the 1980s turned out to be criminals. However, with abortion these kids are never born and the majority of children who are born are loved and cared for the way they should be which in the end results in less crime. The main point of the introduction is to inform you on the types of issues the book will focus on. The introduction explains that this book is going to look at the hidden side of the United States. The book explains that the answers “will seem odd” but after being told will be obvious. I mention this line because this is exactly how I felt when the introduction talked about abortion. When the authors explained that abortion was the reason the crime dropped I felt it was such a weird answer. However, after the authors explained it, I really wondered why I was not able to figure that out. Reading this line really makes me believe that I will enjoy this book. I will love for this to simply be a book where they explain a situation and want you to figure what was the cause of that specific situation. After explaining all the reasons you would think, they come up with this crazy solution which after all makes sense. This is what I feel the book will be about just because of that line I mentioned earlier in this blog. If it turns out to be, then this will be one of the few books I truly enjoy.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Since these guys decided to write about unorthodox, touchy issues, they understod that the book would do well. I think the book is an effort to shock people by discussing things not normally written about. There could be two reasons for this. First, they could have wanted to break into the taboo. To get at the heart of the issues to help people deal with things they may mot want to deal with but should. On the other hand and more likely, the authors were just trying to write a bestseller, make some money and get famous. In America it is the shocking, offensive stuff that gets the most attention and I think they knew that.
The intro delved right into touchy issues. But it is a good tactic because it prepared you for the book's sensitive topics. I really didn't agree with some of the issues raised in the introduction, but they were thought provoking.
Like you, abortion was an issue that never crossed my mind as to a factor that contributed to the falling crime rates in the 1990s. It seems logical, but not obvious to anyone that does not think to deeply about the subject. It ends up that the entire book is simply about 'thinking beyond the obvious'.
I think that the introduction to this book did an excellent job getting the reader to think beyond the obvious. The 'hidden side of everything' is definitely a fitting subtitle for Freakonomics.
Post a Comment