Reading list for Aug'09

Last month was a complete washout w.r.t my reading, as I had a fairly tough set of books. Just could not get enough time as there were too many things to cope with on both professional and personal front. The priority therefore would be to clear the pending stuff and therefore plan to read only book this month.


The Logic of Life: The Rational Economics of an Irrational World
I'm hooked on to Tim Harford's writing (author of The Undercover Economist) as it deals with couple of my favourite subjects - economics and psychology of human behavior. In this new book, Harford provides an entertaining and provocative ("why is your boss paid higher than you", "is divorce overrated?" etc.,) look behind the seemingly irrational. He uses Von Neumann's game theory concepts and applies it to several arenas like racism, work place, Las Vegas gambling and even work place. He shows that individual rational behavior doesn't always lead to socially desired outcomes and concludes by showing how rational behavior shapes cities, politics and the entire history of human civilization.