| 
| Author: Thomas Sowell
Publisher: Basic Books
Category: Book
List Price: $26.00
Buy New: $13.08
You Save: $12.92 (50%)
New (36) Used (11) from $13.08
Avg. Customer Rating:  53 reviews
Sales Rank: 399
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.9
ISBN: 0465003494
Dewey Decimal Number: 330
EAN: 9780465003495
ASIN: 0465003494
Publication Date: December 31, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: New copy, ships fast. Satisfaction guaranteed.
|
| Customer Reviews:
 Facts And Logic vs Faith And Emotion April 1, 2008
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
Thomas Sowell, a prolific author and columnist, is a national treasure and indispensable debunker of popular misconceptions, faulty reasoning and lying with statistics. His conclusions are grounded in history, hard facts and dispassionate analysis. Public policy is judged by results rather than intentions, showing how the best intentioned government action frequently makes the problem worse.
For example, blacks are under represented in the legal profession, so let's use affirmative action to increase their enrollments in the best law schools. The result? Blacks have a much higher drop out rate because many don't have the educational background to compete with the top students from other groups. But the same black who fails at Harvard may well have succeeded in a less demanding law school, so the net effect is fewer, not more, black lawyers.
An example of faulty logic is to compare black/white statistical data on income, SAT scores, mortgage approvals or some other category and conclude that the higher figures for whites shows racial discrimination against blacks. But the same statistics show a similar advantage for Asians over whites. Does that establish racial discrimination against whites? No, the fact is that groups can differ in these categories for reasons other than discrimination.
If you want to really understand how the world works (and how politicians, journalists and others demagogue the issues), a good start would be to pick up anything written for the layman by Sowell. His writing style can sometimes be challenging, but stick with it and you'll be well rewarded. One gem from this book:
"Many beliefs which collapse under scrutiny may nevertheless persist indefinitely when they are not scrutinized, and especially when skilled advocates are able to perpetuate those beliefs by forestalling scrutiny through appeals to emotion. Some popular fallacies of today are centuries old and were refuted centuries ago, even as they are repackaged in up-to-date rhetoric to suit current times."
 Easy read yet thought provoking March 29, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I have a BS in Finance and found this to be very readable. Sometimes it takes me a couple weeks to read a book when I am unable to get into it. Not this book. I find myself thinking about the facts and fallacies presented in this book while I am at work and looking forward to getting home so I can read another section. Worth a read.
Excellent Analysis March 19, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
As usual, Mr. Sowell gives an excellent analysis of underlying factors that are easy to overlook in many superficial economic and life situations. Not using the usual jargon, he explains in simple terms facts of life and goes below the "average" and looks at commonalities and differences that cause apparent discrimination. Well written and very readable.
Economic Facts and Fallacies March 18, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Thomas Sowell is prolific and clear writer who revisits economic issues and places them in perspective so that its easy to see just how timeless the lessons of economics really are. There really is no "free lunch".
How to avoid common economic fallacies March 18, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Long before Freakonomics hit the bookstores, Thomas Sowell was popularizing economics in simple plain language. In his latest book, he continues to illuminate the dismal science cheerily, shining his flashlight on a handful of fallacies common to policy makers and even some professional economists. After describing these fallacies, Sowell shows them at work in discussions of urbanization, gender equality, education, income, race and economic development. The result is a bracing tonic that will almost certainly change your views on some of the most emotional issues of the day. getAbstract recommends this slim, fast-moving read to those who are unafraid to subject their convictions to the light of the economic evidence.
|
|
|
