The Logic of Life
by Tim Harford (Random House, $25)
Human beings are more rational than they’re usually given credit for, said Simon Kennedy in Bloomberg.com. In this “charming and informative” follow-up to his reputation-making The Undercover Economist, Tim Harford shows how people instinctively weigh pros and cons, whether they’re starting wars or contributing to booms in divorce rates or oral sex.
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Michael Shermer makes the opposite argument. In this “in-depth examination of evolutionary economics,” said Publishers Weekly, the publisher of Skeptic magazine turns to primate studies to show that irrational economic choices run deep in our DNA. “Though dense in places,” the book delivers many encouraging insights. Shermer might even convince you that “human beings are not exclusively self-centered” and that modern market economies “are founded on our virtuous nature.”
Economic Facts and Fallacies
by Thomas Sowell (Basic, $26)
The economic arguments of a free-market devotee are always somewhat predictable, said The Economist. Even so, “there is not a chapter” in Thomas Sowell’s new book in which the conservative economist fails to produce at least one statistic “that both surprises and overturns received wisdom.” The views he expresses about Jim Crow–era social progress and the causes of urban riots might infuriate many people, “but it would still do them good” to read them.
The Pirate’s Dilemma
by Matt Mason (Free Press, $25)
You have to sift through explanations of game theory and “some clunky writing” to understand why Matt Mason thinks that online piracy could reinvigorate the entertainment industry, said Fast Company. Though this “punk capitalism” manifesto might best be left to industry insiders, it does offer plenty of “wacky and intriguing” anecdotes about the history of graffiti, hip-hop, pirate radio, and similar bandit movements.
Gang Leader for a Day
by Sudhir Venkatesh (Penguin, $26)
A social scientist who spends six years trailing a drug-gang leader has to answer for his conduct, said Tyler Cowen in The New York Sun. The portrait that Columbia University’s Sudhir Venkatesh paints here of one Chicago neighborhood’s criminal kingpin represents a “path-breaking” contribution to the study of urban economics. But Venkatesh never seems fully conscious of the degree to which he was “feeding the ego” of his subject and thus complicit in poisoning other people’s lives.
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Also of interest...in picture books for grown-upsfeature How About Never—Is Never Good for You?; The Undertaking of Lily Chen; Meanwhile, in San Francisco; The Portlandia Activity Book
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Author of the week: Karen Russell
feature Karen Russell could use a rest.
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The Double Life of Paul de Man by Evelyn Barish
feature Evelyn Barish “has an amazing tale to tell” about the Belgian-born intellectual who enthralled a generation of students and academic colleagues.
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Book of the week: Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt by Michael Lewis
feature Michael Lewis's description of how high-frequency traders use lightning-fast computers to their advantage is “guaranteed to make blood boil.”
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Also of interest...in creative rebellion
feature A Man Called Destruction; Rebel Music; American Fun; The Scarlet Sisters
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Author of the week: Susanna Kaysen
feature For a famous memoirist, Susanna Kaysen is highly ambivalent about sharing details about her life.
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You Must Remember This: Life and Style in Hollywood’s Golden Age by Robert Wagner
feature Robert Wagner “seems to have known anybody who was anybody in Hollywood.”
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Book of the week: Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson’s Lost Pacific Empire by Peter Stark
feature The tale of Astoria’s rise and fall turns out to be “as exciting as anything in American history.”