Wait and See...

I didn't like Superfreakonomics as much as I liked Freakonomics. Part of it was the different topics covered in each book. I think that maybe Levitt and Dubner wrote this one too soon, before they had as many interesting stories as they did the first time out or maybe I am just not all that interested in global warming, which seems to take up a LOT of the second book. The other reason I didn't like it as much might have to do with the fact that I found a couple errors in the first one. Okay...that sounds really ridiculous, doesn't it? But I really did! I even wrote about it on the NY Times Freakonomics Blog. If you don't want to bother looking for my comment, here it is:
Just heard an interview in which Venkatesh states that JT was not arrested by the Feds. The copy of Freakonomics that I have isn’t the revised and updated one, so maybe this was corrected in the later edition.Speaking of things I hope were corrected in the revised edition of Freakonomics— let me say first I really enjoyed this book, but I was disappointed by one, the information about JT’s arrest and by the mention of “the twins named Lemon Jello and Orange Jello”. This twin story is an urban legend that has been around for as long as I’ve been around, which is quite a long time! I wouldn’t have minded it if the authors would have said something like, “and then there’s the urban legend of Lemon Jello and Orange Jello”, but to just state is as fact…well, that coupled with the JT error, just made me doubt other parts of the book. I guess the other thing I should mention though is that I am listening to the audio book, so if there is a footnote disclaiming the twin names, I didn’t have access to it. If there isn’t, and/or if this isn’t mentioned in the revised edition, again, it just takes a lot of the fun out of Freakonomics as a whole. Oh well, it was still a fascinating read!

See if you haven't the books, they deal with the sociological and psychological component of economics. The first book looks into topics like "What do online daters lie about?" and "Why the 1960s was a great time to be a criminal" using economic principals, interviews, and study results.
One of the chapters is based on the work of Sudhir Venkatesh, a sociologist who spent seven years pretty much living with the gangs in one of Chicago's toughest public housing projects. Freakonomics explores the economic discoveries made by Venkatesh during this time there. Ventakesh followed around the gang's top gun, a young man named JT.
Venkatesh went on to write his own book about his experiences with the Chicago gangs in his book Gang Leader for a Day: a Rouge Sociologist Takes to the Streets. This book is fascinating and I highly recommend it. Well in an interview with Venkatesh, on NPR or something, I can't remember, Venkatesh states the JT was not caught by the Feds. In Freakonomics, Dubner and Levitt wrap up their little chapter about JT by saying he was caught.
So that was mistake one.
Mistake two comes from the chapter in Freak that explores how much impact a name that sounds really "African-American" can have on a person- if it will hinder or help them to succeed. The authors say that one family named their twins LemonJello and OrangeJello. Yeah. Right. Like I posted on the Freak blog, that story is as old as...well as old as...I don't know...but it is really old!
Since I posted that on the blog, I did get my hands on a copy of the book and looked for footnotes. No footnote about JT, but there was a footnote about the LemonJello, OrangeJello story.
The footnote is terrible! It say what while this story about the twins seems like an urban legend, they heard from a sociology professor who swears he met the twins in a grocery store. Okay. Whatever.
I wrote Levitt an email though, because in the begining of Superfreak the authors remark that many of their ideas for the book came from emails they got from readers of Freak. I figure they read their email.
Here's what I said:
Hello Dr. Levitt,
I hope you have time to answer a couple questions about your first book with Dr. Dubner, Freakonomics.
I truly loved this book and I loved Superfreak.. just finished it, but I have a nagging problem!
I found a couple of things in Freakonomics that seem to be not true. I posted this on the NY Times Freakonomics blog last year:
Just heard an interview in which Venkatesh states that JT was not arrested by the Feds. The copy of Freakonomics that I have isn’t the revised and updated one, so maybe this was corrected in the later edition.Speaking of things I hope were corrected in the revised edition of Freakonomics— let me say first I really enjoyed this book, but I was disappointed by one, the information about JT’s arrest and by the mention of “the twins named Lemon Jell-O and Orange Jell-O”. This twin story is an urban legend that has been around for as long as I’ve been around, which is quite a long time! I wouldn’t have minded it if the authors would have said something like, “and then there’s the urban legend of Lemon Jell-O and Orange Jell-O”, but to just state is as fact…well, that coupled with the JT error, just made me doubt other parts of the book. I guess the other thing I should mention though is that I am listening to the audio book, so if there is a footnote disclaiming the twin names, I didn’t have access to it. If there isn’t, and/or if this isn’t mentioned in the revised edition, again, it just takes a lot of the fun out of Freakonomics as a whole. Oh well, it was still a fascinating read!
Like I said in the post, I really enjoyed the book, I wanted it all to be true! So when I had trouble with those two stories, it kinda knocked the wind out of me!
Now that I have read Superfreakonomics, I feel the same way, I have enjoyed it immensely and I want to run around telling everyone how much I've enjoyed, share the anecdotes and tell them to read it, but I still feel oogy about the stories I write about above.

Please help! Tell me that I'm wrong about TJ's fate and tell me that you actually saw a birth certificate titled "Lemonjello".
Hope to hear from you soon.
I had written before I read the footnote about LemonJello and OrangeJello.
Haven't heard back yet, but I'll keep you posted.
So the bottom line on Superfreak is that it isn't as entertaining and Freak. And entertainment, sadly, is all that these books are until I find out what is up with JT and Lemon and Orange!