Freakonomics is available on Netflix to watch instantly

February 23, 2011

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News  / 

FYI: Freakonomics, the Movie is available to watch instantly on Netflix right now. It is of course based on the highly recommended first book by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. I just watched it last night, and it’s not as good as the book, but still an interesting watch. If anything, it’s worth watching just to see Levitt talk about data. The exchange between Levitt and Dubner is also pretty entertaining.

I haven’t read the second book, SuperFreakonomics, yet. Thoughts?

8 Comments

  • R. Jordan Prescott — February 23, 2011 at 5:45 am

    SuperFreakonomics is a good read, especially the part about profiling terrorists… cheers! RJP

    • Rjpblows — March 22, 2011 at 10:51 am

      RJP Edit

      ” I really love writing Reviews. Hope you enjoy reading my reviews as much as I do writing them for you all.”
      YOU may LOVE writing them; as Elaine LOVES to DANCE.
      YOU SUCK!!!!!!!
      really?!
      SPOILER TEXT REMOVED 7/24/2009 Michelle Williams is a great actress, however, even she can’t save this movie from being just plain boring. Wendy (Williams), a loner with an unexplained past, and her apparently only friend Lucy (her dog), are on a car trip for some unknown reason from Muncie Indiana to Alaska. In Portland, Oregon, Wendy manages through some dumb moves to lose Lucy, and her car gives up the ghost. Decisions have to be made, especially when Lucy does turn up. However, we have no clue what is going through Wendy’s head, as she says so little. The whole story just seemed to be a snap-shot in time, where nobody really wanted to get involved with Wendy, and she really didn’t want help anyway. I felt frustrated watching the movie because I couldn’t relate to why Wendy was acting the way she did, how her situation came about, and the lack of anything but a minimal plot. It just seemed like Wendy was a naive young lady, well on her way to some future disaster. The movie is a long 80 minute DVD that I can’t really recommend renting. 5.11

      let me sum up your review:

      “I HAVE NO SOUL! oh, yeah and i’m an EPIC idiot!”

  • Iván Fanego — February 23, 2011 at 8:18 am

    I loved SuperFreakonomics, but the “surprise effect” is lost, so it isn’t as exciting as the first book. Moreover, in my opinion is less “economics” and more “freak”.

    Anyway, highly recommendable ;)

  • Keith Erselius — February 23, 2011 at 10:02 am

    Great read if you like the first one. The last study on Capuchins is priceless.

  • Nathan Yau — February 23, 2011 at 11:15 am

    Thanks, guys. Sounds like I need to take a look.

  • Matt Andrews — February 24, 2011 at 4:51 am

    Freakonomics was cute and funny, and I found it a fascinating and eye-opening view of economics. But when they tried to tackle an area I know a lot more about – climate science and policy – in Superfreakonomics they got a lot of stuff badly, badly wrong. Not just details – a really basic lack of understanding. They were confused, ill informed, and they essentially believed what they were told by the wrong people. And they then took an incredibly antagonistic approach when climate scientists and journalists started pointing out the problems. See Washington Post, the New Yorker, or any of the decent climate science sites.

  • Mira Zool — February 27, 2011 at 3:24 pm

    I liked both books. But I *highly* recommend getting the ILLUSTRATED version of Superfreakonomics.