Superfreakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

Maybe I shouldn’t do this so soon after commenting on Freakonomics, but I just loved this one, too. Superfreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance, like its predecessor, has the reader looking at trade, data and economic transactions in a new way. Chapters include:

• How is a Street Prostitute like a Department Store Santa?: In which we explore the cost of being a woman.
• Why Should Suicide Bombers Buy Life Insurance: in which we discuss compelling aspects of birth and death, though primarily death.
• Unbelievable Stories about Apathy and Altruism: in which people are revealed to be less good than previously thought, and also less bad. (This was my favorite chapter!)
• The Fix is In—and It’s Cheap and Simple: in which big, seemingly intractable problems are solved in surprising ways.
• What Do Al Gore and Mount Pinatubo Have in Common: in which we take a cool, hard look at global warming.
• Monkeys are People Too.

When you have an assignment for outside reading in your econ class, this is another fun choice.