SuperFreakonomics

By Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner

A follow-up to the first book, Freakonomics, like that book, this one also looks at the small picture, not the macroeconomics but the microeconomics. It looks at the hidden costs and benefits of how people live their lives. It even tackles the big issue of global warming and how to best address it or if there is even a need to address it. Some of the things they explore are drunk driving vs drunk walking where it turns out you are less likely to die if you drive drunk than if you walk drunk. (Drunk walkers have a tendency to get run over when they stumble out into traffic.) Which is more dangerous, sharks or elephants: elephants because they kill more people in a year than sharks do. They look at the gender pay gap and how it is still a fact of life for women in the workplace. They look at how financial data is mined to give authorities leads on potential suicide bombers. They take a look at medical issues and at how people rely on treatments for diseases that are pretty much a waste of time. They cover lots of fascinating subjects and wind up the book with a arresting chapter on how a group of monkeys was taught to use money and the effect it had on them: it pretty much corrupted them. A very interesting and informative book and not only that, it's just a fun, easy read.