Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely: Prof. Ariely studies Behavioral Economics (or something like that) at MIT. Basically, this means that he conducts experiments to better understand how we make economic desicions. For example, why do we order one meal and not another? Why do we find “Buy one, get one free” sales so appealing? In this book, he describes dozens of experiments that are designed to answer questions like this. I was continually impressed with Prof. Ariely’s skill at design simple, novel experiments to answer questions that I thought were unanswerable. I found this book incredibly interesting and highly recommend it to any interested in human behavior.
The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb: “The Black Swan” is an allegory for highly unlikely and unexpected events. NNT argues that we fail to appreciate the impact of Black Swans on the world and our lives. For example, El Mariachi was a Black Swan for both the early audience and Robert Rodriguez (he may claim to not be surprised by the movie earning $10’s of millions, but if you asked him to predict the profit while filming the movie, I am sure it would not have 7 digits let alone 8 ). The basic theme of the book was very interesting, and I enjoyed the book for the most part. The author is very cynical, which I like, but I also felt his ego coming through, which was less appealing. Overall, a good book, but I wish the editor had trimmed it a little.
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