by Tim Harford
Another entertaining "popular economics" book. Although not quite as good as the undercover economist, is covers a wide range of everyday experiences and explains why the apparently unreasonable makes sense - for example: why your boss is overpaid, why real wages in the world's large metropolitan cities are lower (hint: not mainly because you can go out in the evening), why divorce rates are high and eligible bachelors scarce, why rich neighborhoods have better streets and infrastructure (hint: not because they are chummy with those in npower or bribe politicians), why race discrimination at work is hard to stamp out even if employers don't have any personal preferences.
Usually it comes down to rational decisions that each individual makes, which in aggregate lead to irrational outcomes or freeze in bad situations.
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