Runaway Bestseller "Freakonomics" Selected as June eBook of the Month
BOULDER, COLO.—NetLibrary, in partnership with HarperCollins Publishers, has selected runaway bestseller "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" as the June eBook of the Month. Praised by the New York Times, Kirkus Review, and the Wall Street Journal, "Freakonomics" studies the economics of everyday life—from cheating and crime to sports and childrearing—and presents conclusions that demolish conventional wisdom.
Combining forceful story-telling with wry insight, Steven D. Levitt and co-author Stephen J. Dubner ask which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common? Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? How much do parents really matter? What kind of impact did Roe v. Wade have on violent crime?
While these may not sound like typical questions for an economist to ask, Steven D. Levitt is anything but typical. Winner of the most prestigious award in his field, the University of Chicago economist is not remotely interested in the things that interest most of his peers. Instead, he studies real world issues like whether reading to your baby will make her a better student or the inner workings of crack gangs. Some of these questions concern life-and-death issues; others have an admittedly freakish quality. Thus the new field of study contained in this book: freakonomics.
Levitt and Dubner examine mountains of data and show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives -- how people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing. In "Freakonomics," they set out to explore the hidden side of everything. The truth about real-estate agents. The myths of campaign finance. The telltale marks of a cheating schoolteacher. The secrets of the Ku Klux Klan.
What unites all these stories is a belief that the modern world, despite a surfeit of obfuscation, complication, and downright deceit, is not impenetrable, is not unknowable, and -- if the right questions are asked -- is even more intriguing than we think. All it takes is a new way of looking. Steven Levitt, through devilishly clever and clear-eyed thinking, shows how to see through all the clutter.
To help libraries promote June's eBook of the Month to their patrons, NetLibrary has developed a tool kit of free promotional materials that includes print-on-demand bookmarks, a sample press release, and electronic support materials. More information on June's eBook of the Month is available at:
http://library.netlibrary.com/eBookOfTheMonth.aspx
About HarperCollins Publishers
HarperCollins is one of the leading English-language publishers in the world and is a subsidiary of News Corporation (NYSE: NWS, NWS.A; ASX: NWS, NWSLV). Headquartered in New York, the company has publishing groups in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Australasia. Its publishing groups include the HarperCollins General Books Group, HarperCollins Children's Books Group, Zondervan, HarperCollins UK, HarperCollins Canada, HarperCollins Australia/New Zealand and HarperCollins India. You can visit HarperCollins Publishers on the Internet at:
http://www.harpercollins.com
About NetLibrary
Headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, NetLibrary is a division of Online Computer Library Center, Inc., a worldwide library cooperative. NetLibrary provides content and technical delivery solutions to institutional libraries, corporations and government agencies that facilitate the purchase, management and distribution of research, reference, digital learning, and general interest content via Web-based technologies. NetLibrary's eContent solution is the most broadly adopted in the market, making the content of more than 400 publishers and eContent providers available through more than 12,000 libraries worldwide.