I really enjoyed this sequel to Freakonomics. Levitt's unflinching and dispassionate analysis of often highly charged political issues is always enlightening. I sometimes wonder at the validity of his statistics, but he's the professional, not me.

In this book, in particular, I like the fact that he is really able to highlight the essential fallibility and humanity of the police force when dealing with prostitutes. Too often, we put our armed forces and protective services on such a pedestal that they seem superhuman. Levitt rightly shows that they are limited in both power and in morality.

More importantly, Levitt brings some much needed rationality to the discussion about global warming. The only solution is not a global crippling of our economy (though see my review on Confessions of a Radical Industrialist for an alternative view on the relative difficulty of industry cleaning up its act). Believe it or not, if we are screwing it up, we can probably fix it. I'm also excited about the idea of a corporation of innovation (IV). That kind of company can put resources and publicity behind an idea that an individual can't and an entrenched corporation might not want to.

I enjoyed the discussion about cleanliness in hospitals, especially given my recent operation. Please, wash your hands! Oh, and electronic medical records COULD become a source of discrimination, but look how many lives they are saving! Are we going to throw the baby out with the bath water in the name of privacy (as we have done so many times in this country ... can anybody say Patriot Act?)

Of course, even economists bring their own biases to the equation, but I think Levitt has done a fine job stepping outside of the system and looking at the data.