When to Rob a Bank... and 131 More Warped Suggestions and Well-Intended Rants from the Freakonomics Guys

As coauthors Levitt and Dubner explain at the start of this delightful collection, a decade ago, concurrent with the publication of their book Freakonomics, they decided to start a blog with the same name. Eight thousand posts later, they're still writing, even though the blog generates no income and probably cannibalizes sales from their books. For the site's anniversary, they've finally bowed to reader demands to turn it into a book. The result is this energetic, charming assortment of posts, thematically arranged, on topics as varied as terrorism, restoration of the draft, getting rid of the penny, car-seat safety, obesity, the U.S. crackdown on Internet poker, steroid use in the Tour de France, the D.C. gun ban, and "No Gas Day." Lively, self-deprecating writing ensures an entertaining read for fans and new readers alike. It seems likely to prove the authors right in their gamble that even content available for free can be a viable product, especially with such a large, devoted fanbase. Agent: Suzanne Gluck, WME. (May)