Freakonomics

written by Steven D. Levitt (economist) with Stephen J. Dubner (journalist). This is a freaky, weird, interesting book that tells random stories that make you want to share. Here's an example.

Nicolae Ceausescu was a Romanian dictator in the Communist party 1965 to 1989. In 1966, Ceauşescu made abortion illegal. For some reason he thought it would be good to have more Romanians. Women who had babies were rewarded and women who didn't bear children were penalized.

Babies were born to women who didn't want them, who then abandoned their children and the orphanages were full to overflowing. These children grew up in a bad situation and as teenagers were instrumental in overthrowing Ceauşescu.

In 1989 there was a violent demonstration. Ceauşescu arrested and tried in a make shift court room. Ceauşescu and his wife were found guilty of crimes and sentenced to death by firing squad. They were executed on Christmas Day.

The weird twist is that if he not made abortion illegal, the people who overthrew his regime would not have been born and he would probably not have been executed.

There are many other stories equally as interesting and fun to retell. They even made a movie and the DVD comes out in January 2011. Read the book then see the movie.