I've been in sales my entire career. I love everything to do about the sales profession, from generating sales leads, to meeting with clients and prospects, to closing sales.
One of the best things about having a sales job is that you're not stuck in an office from 9 to 5. You get to go out and drive. Drive to meetings... drive to clients' offices. And, since driving is my favorite thing to do, I love it.
Speaking of driving, my dream is to be able to drive all around the world. First up, I want to drive through North America. I'm planning for a trip shortly to drive from my hometown, toronto, to Tijuana, Mexico. Next up will be to drive through Europe. I want to visit Vienna, Moscow, Stockholm, Berlin, Zurich, and a whole lot more cities. Lastly, I want to drive through Asia as well. I've always wanted to visit Tokyo and Hong Kong.
Steven D. Levitt is the economist. Stephen J Dubner is the writer. But Freakonomics is more about statistics and what to make of them than it is about economics.
The book is a truly interesting read and reminds me of John Allen Paulos' book, Innumeracy. The authors of Freakonomics claim that there is no unifying theme to the book, but I disagree. The unifying theme, just as in Innumeracy, is a theme about how people, in general, misread and misunderstand statistics and cause-and-effect relationships in society.
But before you think to yourself that statistics and math is boring and so don’t read the book, think again. This book is phenomenal and is a New York Times best seller for a reason.
Levitt and Dubner use outrageous examples to bring statistics and cause-and-effect relationships to life.
- Do you want to know what the Ku Klux Klan and real estate agents have in common? Read the book
- Ever wonder why drug dealers live with their mothers? Read the book.
- Is the big drop in crime in New York City attributable to Julian Fantino? This answer, as well, can be found in the book
Freakonomics is on my list of ten best books ever. I think anybody that reads it will love it just as much as I did, except maybe for Mary Rosh (Read the book to find out why Mary Rosh probably wouldn’t like it).
I have one, and only one, criticism of the book. Freakonomics ends with an anecdotal story about Ted Kaczynski (the Unabomber) to help visualize a certain argument. The use of anecdotes is a big reason why so many of the innumerate fail to understand statistics and cause-and-effect relationships.
Tino Buntic invites you to create a TradePals profile to receive free sales leads without cold calling or prospecting.
The Freakonomics Blog is one of Tino's favorite blogs. If you own a copy of Freakonomics visit the blog where you can register to receive a signed bookplate from Levitt and Dubner.