I didn't expect to like this book all that much. And I didn't like it all that much, but not for the reasons I expected not to like it. I just didn't think it had all that much to say. Maybe it's because I'm a skeptic by nature. Before I read it, if you had asked me if I thought real-estate agents managed to get better deals when selling their own houses than they get for customers, I would have said "of course." If you asked me whether I thought public school teachers fudged test results to make themselves look like better teachers, I would have said "of course." And while I never made the connection myself, when I first heard a couple years ago that Levitt had found a correlation between legalized abortion and decreasing crime rates, I immediately thought "of course."

The part of the book I did find interesting was the section on parenting. Levitt claims that the primary factor influencing school grades is I.Q., which is hereditary and doesn't have a lot to do with upbringing. On the other hand, he says, upbringing does influence decisions made later in life. I have often jokingly questioned if that verse that says Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6) should be read literally. It isn't when a child is a child or a teen or even a young adult that he goes the way he should, but when he is older and gets through the stupid years.

I did find the book thought-provoking in some areas, but drawn-out and redundant in others. I rated it a 6.