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Recommended to my wife as Freakonomics�� better predecessor (Armchair Economist was originally published in 1993), Landsburg describes his work as “a chronicle of what [he] learned at lunch�� (p. viii). Now, even granting the University of Rochester economics professor latitude befitting his choice of lunchtime companions, I was heartily disappointed to discover that the text indeed lives down to the author’s own humble description.

The tone is fine; Landsburg is chatty and informally fun. But each chapter is one series after another of economic or sociological examples tossed off and left unanalyzed. Why do concert promoters for acts that consistently sell-out choose to set prices lower than the maximum the market will bear? Yeah, that’s a good one, and here’s another: why should irrelevant celebrity endorsements (politicians for luggage) help sell products? And why would single diners tip waitstaff anonymously, with no one to impress? Why do movie theater owners charge so much for popcorn, when they could make up the difference on the movie ticket itself? All intriguing questions, which the author has no intention of fully exploring. I got fed up after five or so chapters in this vein. This book has conversation fodder aplenty, but nary a real insight. What, no mention of social proof, status theory, or even a passing familiarity with the Hollywood distribution model? Here, Steven, let me introduce you to Edward Jay Epstein and Harold Vogel. With due respect to the gentleman who preferred Landsburg’s efforts to those of his fellow Stevens Steven Levitt and Steven Dubner, at least the Freakonomics guys show some passing familiarity with their library.

P.S. Since I joined GoodReads, I’ve tried to make a habit of reviewing everything I’ve read more or less right after I finished it, if only as a reminder to myself of what it was and what I thought of it. For the most part, it’s proven to be a pretty good discipline, and I’ve enjoyed it, and in the process, encountered some fascinating fellow readers in the world, so bonus points there, and now just you shut up about the narcissism of it all, if you please.

Bird Brian has started a collection of audio book reviews called The Big Audio Project and invited/dared me to participate (well, Choupette dared me to use a fake Aussie accent, which is close enough). At any rate, now that I can compound my natural pretension with hamminess, there’s no telling what I might accomplish. This is one of three books that I read, thought little of, and never got around to that form