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The Logic of Life: Uncovering the New Economics of Everything

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Author: Tim Harford
Publisher: Little, Brown
Category: Book

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Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars

11 reviews
Sales Rank: 3516

Media: Hardcover
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.7 x 6.1 x 1.3

ISBN: 0316027561
EAN: 9780316027564
ASIN: 0316027561

Publication Date: January 25, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New - Please allow 1-3 working days for delivery. UK Seller

Customer Reviews:

Showing reviews 6-10 of 11

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excelent insight to the logical thinking. March 11, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful

I bought the first book "The Undercover Economist because I found a good review about Tim Harfords work.
His writing style is exciting but informative about the real world and rational way of thinking and key theories(The Game theory); explained in great detail makes good reading. The book is fantastic I would recommend anybody that enjoys economics or wants to learn something new to buy this book you realy do learn alot.

BUY THE UNDERCOVER ECONOMIST AS WELL.

3 out of 5 stars

Surprise, Surprise March 9, 2008
3 out of 9 found this review helpful

Former Freudian,Alfred Adler stated in the 1920's that all human behaviour is purposeful and goal directed. As we are not all completely stupid, on a macro scale human beings keep ourselves mostly safe, get mostly what we want to get and do mostly what we want to do.
There. Now you know so don't bother with the book or the lecture tour -even though Tim Harford is an entertaining writer and speaker and maybe he can bring a new audience to the solution focused school of psychology. Hence the stars.

5 out of 5 stars

Rational thinking February 29, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

I thoroughly enjoyed this book; it was well-written and brilliantly researched.

It uncovers the underlying logic of the apparently irrational choices we make (for example, why do smoking rates among young people go up with advertising of products for stopping smoking? The adverts make them think it will be easy).

If also shows how a bad result, eg. racial segregation in large cities can arise out of rational decisions bad on a mild preference: people don't mind a mixed neighbourhood, but don't want to live surrounded by people of another race. If they perceive the latter starting to happen, they move to another area which perpetuates a cycle.

Not ony that, but he finishes with tracing the origins of the Industrial Revolution! A fascinating book, highly recommended.

5 out of 5 stars

The Logic of Life February 19, 2008
10 out of 10 found this review helpful

I highly recommend this book. I really enjoyed reading about the theories and the evidence behind 'the new economics of everything', which looked at human behaviours from a perspective that was less familiar to me, as a psychologist, but which I found interesting, valuable and accesible. The biographical and historical details meant that 'logic of life' had a lovely story-like quality that only an accomplished social science writer like Tim Harford is able to achieve. Looking forward to his next book.

5 out of 5 stars

A valuable reminder that economics is a means not an end February 5, 2008
15 out of 16 found this review helpful

A lively and thought-provoking follow-up to Harford's debut book The Undercover Economist, which used textbook economics to throw new light on everyday life. In this second book Harford moves well beyond the textbook to take us on a tour of some cutting edge research and thinking that's emerging from what he calls a "new breed of economists". Among them is Steve Levitt, whose Freakonomics popularised the notion that economists can have interesting things to say about areas you wouldn't normally expect them to be poking their noses into - but Levitt is only one of many academic researchers who are cheerfully roaming over other people's turf from their economics labs, so Harford's book serves as a timely overview of a newly sexy subject.

The result is a startlingly diverse collection of insights and anecdotes which are all held together by one central premise - that you can explain a lot about life by starting from the simple assumption that people are fundamentally rational. This is not an uncontroversial assertion - among the "new breed of economists" are those melding economics with psychology into a fledgeling discipline of behavioural economics, which focuses on our irrational quirks. Harford's view is not to dismiss these human foibles, but to argue persuasively that they shouldn't be overstated, and that in most important situations we behave rationally - that is, subconsciously evaluating costs and benefits and responding to incentives - to a remarkable extent.

Harford's writing is a joy to read, especially when he's impishly puncturing pomposity - my favorite is the "why your boss is overpaid" chapter, which discusses several theories that could rationally explain the obscenely high wages commanded by modern CEOs (hint: none of them are "because they're worth it"). One great lesson made clear by this book is that individually rational decisions can lead to socially horrible outcomes, a conclusion never clearer than in the discomfiting chapter on "rational racism". It's a valuable reminder that economics is a means not an end - rational choice theory doesn't dictate what society should be like, rather it teaches how we can harness rationality by changing incentives to shape the society we want.