FREAKONOMICS co-author Stephen J. Dubner is launching "Freakonomics Radio," an American Public Media/ New York Public Radio podcast and Marketplace segment. You can listen to a sample on its website.

(Via Galleycat, which notes that the "Freakonomics" documentary is available on iTunes now. Well, that's tonight planned.)

Filmbook-to-Be: Freakonomics (2010)

I wasn't all that excited about the news that the best-selling FREAKONOMICS was being turned into a movie until I actually read something about it this week. Instead of one long work, the documentary (which just played in New York this weekend at the Tribeca Film Festival) is comprised of five short films, each with a different director tackling one of the concerns (?) of the book. The talent recruited is pretty stellar, from Alex "Taxi To The Dark Side" Gibney to Heidi "Jesus Camp" Ewing, and the whole thing is stitched together by Seth "The King Of Kong" Gordon.

For introducing mainstream audiences to these up-and-coming directors, this may actually do some good. Keep an eye out for "Freakonomics" in November.

The book you don't take home to Mother

Bestselling authors Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner went there for their new book:


The correct spelling of the title when not in all caps is "SuperFreakonomics." It's a SuperFreak! SuperFreak! (Look, I have it in my head, you might as well too.) It hits stores October 20.

The duo's international publishers went in kind of a NETHERLAND-meets-Klosterman-at-Scribner direction for the cover art, which only seems to emphasize the Rick James connection:



US cover: Freakonomics NYT blog; international cover, Penguin.com.au