Book Review – Think Like a Freak

Image: Think Like a Freak by Lucy Lantz (CC BY-NC-ND)

2.5 out of 5 stars

Think Like a Freak, a book by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, is composed of concepts that its authors and other individuals have used to think creatively, rationally, and from a new perspective, something that the authors refer to as “thinking like a freak.” This book contains several noteworthy concepts, such as the power of incentives and the importance of finding the true root of a problem. The book is divided into six parts, each of which addresses a key element of thinking like a freak. Each section contains entertaining narratives of how individuals have used these strategies. While these stories are fascinating, they do not exactly instruct readers on how to apply thinking like a freak to their own lives. Most readers are not attempting to win a hot dog eating contest or identify potential terrorists, and while some might argue that the success of the individuals in the stories is due to strategies that anyone can employ, the book does not make clear how we are to train ourselves to think like freaks. 

Think Like a Freak is a generally well-regarded book, shown by the compilation of impressive reviews on its back cover. However, after reading it, I must say that it does not quite live up to its promises. The top of the book’s cover reads, “The authors of Freakonomics offer to retrain your brain,” yet after finishing the book, my brain felt much as it did before reading it. The book describes several ideas that can be found in other, more well-written books, such as Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath. Think Like a Freak does differ from similar books in that it is filled with speculations, not just scientific proof, on why people behave as they do. Some of these theories seem logical and highly possible, while others fall apart on closer inspection. This book might be of interest to those who enjoy reading about success stories and unproven but potentially valuable ideas. I give this book 2.5 out of 5 stars, as while it was at times an enjoyable read, I found it considerably less informative than other books that explore the same topics from a more scientific perspective.