The Logic of Life

Tim Harford

Publisher: Little, Brown, 2008, 272 pages

ISBN: 978-0-349-12041-6

Keywords: Personal Development

Last modified: Aug. 7, 2021, 6:23 p.m.

If humans are so clever, why do we smoke and gamble, or take drugs, or fall in love? Is this really rational behaviour? And how come your idiot boss is so overpaid? In fact, the behaviour of even the unlikeliest of individuals — prostitutes, drug addicts, racists and revolutionaries — complies with economic logic, taking into account future costs and benefits, even if we don't quite realise it. We are rational beings after all.

  • Introduction
  • One: Introducing the logic of life
  • Two: Las Vegas
  • Three: Is divorce underrated?
  • Four: Why your boss is overpaid
  • Five: In the neighbourhood
  • Six: The dangers of rational racism
  • Seven: The world is spiky
  • Eight: Rational revolutions
  • Nine: A million years of logic

Reviews

The Logic of Life

Reviewed by Roland Buresund

Disappointing *** (3 out of 10)

Last modified: Aug. 5, 2010, 2:42 a.m.

When I read this book, I had the distinct feeling that I had either read the book before or that I had read something very similar somewhere else.

In fact, it seems to be a collection of articles, that have been strung together and given an over-reaching explanation (explaining the "logic" of everyday "life").

It was in the end a big disappointment, as I expected more than vague theories and repeats of other books. You won't miss much if you don't read it.

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