Recommended Read: Freedomnomics: Why Free Markets Work and Other Half-Baked Theories Don't

This important book dispels popular economic myths promulgated by the media and the authors of Freakonomics. John Lott explains through his informative and understandable writing, how and why the free market system works. He further dispels many radical and flawed theories by presenting factual and verifiable statistics.

During discussions of important social and economic issues, such as gun control, we often hear a politician on television espousing the need for more gun control and further restrictions on legal personal ownership of hand guns. Lott demonstrates legal guns in the hands of law abiding citizens reduces likelihood of a crime committed against a citizen. States with concealed weapons laws saw a decrease in crime continuing years after the law was enacted. To my amazement, Lott further proves the assault weapons ban did nothing to reduce crime, with the murder rate actually falling after the assault weapons ban was lifted.

An expert in the field of crimes and punishment, Lott was a member of the United States Sentencing Commission from 1988 to 1989, and he has some interesting findings. One finding concluded harsher punishments should be imposed for lesser environmental crimes. The purpose of the larger penalty is to offset the higher probability of smaller criminals getting away with the crime. This is an eye opener on proper sentencing and helped me understand why it is important to enact punishments and deter even the smallest offender. As Lott explains, the smaller offender can easily get away with at environmental crime, because a large oil spill will be noticed before one barrel thrown over the side of a boat.