SuperFreakonomics is being published on Tuesday, October 20, and Levitt and Dubner will be popping up here and there to talk about it. (Here’s a fairly complete schedule.) Their first public lecture takes place at the exquisite Symphony Space in New York City on Wednesday, October 21, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets can be bought here, but you also have a chance to win a free pair. Just be the first person to correctly answer the following question:
What do Ignaz Semmelweis and Robert S. McNamara have in common? Your answer should include a cost component.
The answer, and the winner, will be revealed early next week. Good luck.
Addendum: We announce the winner here.
and 
. You can also watch it on 
Both McNamera and Ignatz fought, against the popular opinion, for what they believed in and both paid the cost, in the form of social ostracization.
Why do you charge money for these lectures? ain’t the purpose of this tour to promote the book? I liked freakonomics and look forward for the super freakonomics book. One of the lectures is in my home town and i would definitely go if it would have been free – but no way i’m buying a ticket
@ Oz:
Price is the way to ration who gains admission, because there are so many people who would want to go for free.
They are both dead.
Both are characters in the Freakonomics book which can be bought at Amazon stores for 14,95 Euro hopefully before XMas in Germany… *wink wink* … Do i apply for a ticket?
They both used statistics to make decisions but were seen as having other motives.
Before people rush out to buy your book, it would be great if you could respond to Joe Romm (among others)’s critique of its section on global warming: http://climateprogress.org/2009/10/12/superfreakonomics-errors-levitt-caldeira-myhrvold/
Or see William Connelly: http://scienceblogs.com/stoat/2009/10/superfreakonomics_global_cooli.php?id=135164
They both admitted they and their professional peers were doing something wrong, and then tried to speak out against it.