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Ratings: ★★★★☆(4.4/5)
Genre: Economics / Popular Science / Business / Social Science

Book Review:
The Most Entertaining Economics Book You'll Ever Read
If you think economics is all about dry graphs, boring equations, and incomprehensible jargon, Steven E. Landsburg's ''The Armchair Economist'' is the book that will change your mind. It is quite simply one of the most entertaining, thought-provoking, and accessible introductions to the subject ever written.

Landsburg's central premise is simple: economics is a way of thinking about the world. It is a set of tools that can be applied to everything from movie theater popcorn prices to environmental policy, from marriage laws to Internet scams. And he applies them with wit, verve, and a refreshing disregard for conventional wisdom.

The book is structured as a series of puzzles and paradoxes. Why does a newspaper vending machine allow you to take as many papers as you want, while a Coke machine does not? (The answer, Landsburg explains, has everything to do with transaction costs and the nature of the goods.) Why are laws against polygamy bad for women? (Because they reduce competition in the marriage market.) His arguments are always logical, often surprising, and guaranteed to make you think.

Landsburg is not afraid to tackle controversial topics, and he does so with a clear-eyed rationality that is both refreshing and challenging. He shows that many of our intuitions about fairness and justice are economically illiterate, and that policies designed with the best intentions often have perverse and unintended consequences.

Fortune magazine called the book ''enormous fun,'' praising Landsburg for having ''expounded basic economic principles with wit and verve.'' The Wall Street Journal noted that he ''valiantly turns the discussion of vexing economic questions into an activity that ordinary people might enjoy.'' This fully revised and updated edition brings the book into the 21st century, with new material on everything from government deficits to online dating.

''The Armchair Economist'' is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the hidden logic behind the world around them. It is a book that will entertain you, challenge you, and make you a more thoughtful observer of human behavior. Highly recommended.