The Gospel Coalition

If you were one of the millions who has read Freakonomics you know what you are going to find in the sequel, Superfreakonomics. You will find a series of chapters that really have little to do with one another. Each of the five chapters stands on its own as a case study that somehow draws fascinating conclusions from seemingly irrelevant and disconnected data. It is the formula that worked so well in Freakonomics (which sold millions of copies) and there was really no reason to change it. Eventually the format may grow tired, but at least for two books it works very well.

The topics vary wildly between chapters and even within chapters. For example, the first chapter discusses prostitution, going so far as to look at in-depth studies on what prostitutes charge for their various services and how these rates differ from neighborhood-to-neighborhood within a particular city and how the rates differ for those who work for a pimp. While the subject matter may not sound so compelling, what the authors begin to do is show how pimps and real estate agents are alike, why prostitution is so much less prevalent today than it was in days past, and so on. What begins as a case study involving street prostitutes quickly draws conclusions about a wide variety of topics related to our culture. In examining the economics of prostitution we begin to see reflections of our culture; we begin to see how culture has changed in all sorts of different ways.

I was particularly glad to see that the final chapter is dedicated to global warming. Here the authors bring some reason to one of our society’s sacred cows. Without outright denying the impact of human beings on the (very!) gradual warming of the earth, they show how so many of the mind-breakingly-expensive solutions proposed by Al Gore and others like him would really do nothing but destroy the wealth of the wealthy nations. Any of these solutions are just the smallest drop in the bucket, destined to spend billions for no great effect. The authors show that there are far better solutions and ones that the earth has already used with great success. This chapter alone is worth the cost of the book and the time spent reading it. As if to prove what a sacred cow global warming is today, this chapter alone has turned multitudes of readers against the book (see the Amazon reviews as evidence).

And so it goes. Superfreakonomics is a faithful sequel in every way. It is not a book you would necessarily read to retain or one you would read to change your life. It is a book that can be read just for its entertainment value and there is nothing wrong with that. If you liked the first book, there is no reason you shouldn’t enjoy this one just as much. Do note, of course, that the first chapter, while tastefully done, does include some content that may not be appropriate for younger readers.

Verdict: Buy it

My wife thinks I’m a little bit crazy, I’m sure of it. During eleven years of marriage I’ve done a lot of things that have led her to roll her eyes and sigh. I guess she is getting used to it, though, because even she is interested in what I am planning to do in 2010. I plan to read all of the New York Times bestselling books over the course of the whole year. Do the math and you’ll see that this will come in at somewhere around 10 million words.

While the project proper begins on January 1, 2010, in the months leading up to it, I will be attempting to read all of the current bestsellers to reassure myself that I can actually do this without losing my sanity. In so doing, I will be trying to “find my voice,” so to speak–finding the best way to deal with as imposing a project as this one, and looking for the cultural and worldview themes that I think will be so interesting.

I am hoping that you’ll join in as I do all of this–following along, perhaps reading a few of the books to share your reflections on them, and maybe leaving the occasional comment.

Why Are You Doing This?
Just ten years in, the twenty-first century has already been fascinating and complex. The potential for a Y2K disaster was averted but within two years America saw a completely unforeseen disaster that showed just how small the world has become and proved that America was no longer safe within her own borders. Since then we have seen protracted wars, the deaths of iconic celebrities, a massive economic downturn that brought the world to the brink of depression, and the election of the nation’s first black President. All this and the century has only just begun.

America’s bestselling books tell us, I’m sure, who America is, who her people are, at this time and place. Surely they will give me a glimpse into the world’s most powerful, the world’s most fascinating nation.

So why am I doing it? That is a fair question and one that does not offend me in the least. There are a few answers. First, I love to read and this project gives me an opportunity to read a lot. That, as I see it, is a good thing. Second, it is a challenge and I like to face a good challenge. I expect this project to involve at least ten million words of reading–break that down and you’ll see that it comes to at least three books per week over the course of an entire year. Third, I am interested in the cultural and worldview implications of all of these books. They will provide, I’m sure, a snapshot of where America is at as she enters a new decade. And for me, as a Canadian who spends a fair amount of time wandering the United States and who has family living in the United States, this stands to be particularly interesting.

Caveats
When I say that I will be reading all of the New York Times Bestselling books, I refer to non-fiction only. Yes, novels can also provide great cultural insight, but only in a less-pointed way. Plus, I hate novels. So non-fiction it is. I will largely ignore the non-fiction paperback list as well simply because most of the paperbacks have been previously published in hardcover. The plan is to track the Times list on a weekly basis (the new list is available on Friday of each week) and to update my reading list accordingly. I will post a review (of sorts) of each of the books, hopefully within a few days of it showing up on the list.

It is difficult to think about the abuses faced by women around the world and to still believe, as do so many, that human beings are somehow, somewhere, innately good. The evidence would so clearly seem to point in the other direction–that there is something very seriously wrong with mankind. This pessimistic but realistic viewpoint was confirmed as I read Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. Authors Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn travel the world heaping up evidence of the abuses against women and proposing ways forward. The authors focus on three particular abuses: sex trafficking and forced prostitution; gender-based violence such as honor killings and systemic mass rape; and maternal mortality. This takes them across the globe, but primarily to Africa and to East Asia. They pause briefly elsewhere (such as in Sweden and Holland to compare the effectiveness of legislation outlawing versus legalizing prostitution) but primarily focus on women in the developing world.

The format of the book is remarkably effective. The authors first discuss an issue, often by relating the stories of a couple of women they have met in their travels, and then provide a lengthy account or case study on that same topic. This combination nicely mixes the theoretical with the practical. It is one thing to hear about the mass rapes in Rwanda but another entirely to come face-to-face with a survivor and to hear how she has sought to live life in the aftermath. The stories are always poignant, touching and, more often than not, horrifying.

One thing that impressed me about this book was that, while it was written about women, it did not ever fall into outright feminism. There were a few times where I had flashbacks to my college days and expected the authors to provide some old feminist argument or rationale, but always they allowed reason to prevail. So, for example, when showing how women around the world are subjugated by men, they point out, rightly, that women also subjugate women. After all, it is often the madams who imprison young girls and force them into prostitution. So we see that the oppression of women is not a problem with men, but a problem with all humans. The authors’ prove in this that their interest truly is for the welfare of women, not for the downfall of men (a rather important distinction, I think).

Time and time again the authors return to the importance of education as a solution to the oppression of women. Education is key. Educate women and they become useful to society in more ways than simply birthing children and satisfying the sexual needs of men. And certainly I would not wish to downplay the importance of education. Some may (and undoubtedly will) scoff at me for this, but I truly believe that the Christian faith offers women their greatest hope and freedom–even more so than education. I can say this with confidence because I believe what the Bible says–that God created the world, including both men and women, and that he has told us there how men and women are to relate to one another. When the Christian faith is lived out in accordance to Scripture, women find tremendous freedom to be who God has created them to be.

Only the Christian faith affirms the value and equality of women. When the Christian faith is ignored in favor of some kind of legalistic morality only loosely based on the Bible, women inevitably suffer. And this is the case with any other religion I can think of: it is always the women who suffer first and who suffer worst. Just look to Islam or Hinduism or any other faith and you will see how women are subjugated. The authors here do dedicate a chapter to Islam and seek to answer the question, Is Islam Misogynistic? They fight hard to say “no, not according to the Koran” but it is difficult to really believe their conclusion with so much evidence stacked against them. It is God, through the Bible, who offers women their greatest hope.

It almost seems wrong to say that I enjoyed reading this book. Full as it is of stories of the suffering of women, it is painful and often infuriating. Many of the stories are brutal and hard to read–stories of rape and trafficking and forced prostitution and every other form of utter, abject humiliation and degradation. Yet these accounts simply represent the harsh reality of so many of the world’s girls and women. Hard though they are to read, the alternative, ignoring them, is surely no better.

My concern with Half the Sky is that many of the organizations the authors recommend would undoubtedly be ones towards which Christians would want to be very cautious. While they may be doing lots of good work, they may also be involving themselves in activities that Christians would not want to support. Therefore it is wise to be cautious and to seek out organizations that are truly worth supporting. The authors are clear that Christian organizations are doing a world of good in developing nations so there are many to choose from. Let us hope that these organizations can prove to the world that it is only God who offers true hope to overcome oppression.

Verdict: Buy it