The Logic of Life: The Rational Economics of an Irrational World | Tim Harford

The Logic of Life: The Rational Economics of an Irrational World | Tim Harford | Nothing original

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The Logic of Life:...

	The Logic of Life: The Rational Economics of an Irrational World Tim Harford Random House, 2008 - 272 pages average customer review:based on 33 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

My 2cents

Good sense of humor, light style. Suspicious logic and conclusions apparently drawn out of thin air.

Nothing original

Some books set a trend and become best sellers and many others follow. However, the first is mostly the best. This is my logic and personal experience on books.

"Freakonomics" by Steven Levitt was a trail blazer on the topic of rational economics, soon followed by Harford's "The Undercover economist". Both these books made excellent reading. If two is company and three is a crowd, and if one wants to be away from crowds, better stay away from this one. (Else read "The Wisdom of Crowds" by James Surowiecki, to be in good company)

The depth of analysis of issues, translating complex economic, social and political jargon into simple, elegant and entertaining style of writing, deserves appreciation. However, sometimes one tends to rationalize everything, and is likely to be trapped in "one size fits all" syndrome, applying the same theory to all phenomenons. There is more to life than rational economics. Rationalizing things the way it is done in this book fully engages all the grey cells of the left side of our brain. Please be reminded that the other half is waiting to be tapped. I recommend "A whole new mind" by Daniel Pink to those of us enslaved by left brained education.

In addition, some conclusions arrived in the book appear flawed. In the analysis of subsidies it is concluded that the minority always gains at the expense of the majority in the USA. I request the author to apply the same methodology to politics in the world's largest democracy on similar issues.

Excellent references at appropriate points, and a generous dose of humor to retain attention.

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Logic??? of Life.

I enjoyed this book. It didn't change my life, but it did make my gray matter work lightly to consider life in a somewhat different light. The author asks thought provoking questions and gives some interesting slants on human behavior that I had not previously considered.

For a light read that is not pure brain candy, I would recommend this book.

The Logic of Life: The Rational Economics of an Irrational World

Initial Review

Only ~100 pages into it.

May make a good introdution to economics for teenagers. Undercover Economist was better, but this may appeal more to mainstream teenagers.

UPDATE: Read a little further. Gets much better. The chapters on neighborhood and race are excellent. If I could, I'd change from 3 to 4 stars.

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reviews: 1, 2, page 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

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