The book was written by my instructor for the on-line course entitled A Beginner's Guide to Irrational Behaviour. He offered his three books in an e-bundle at a great price. I picked the cheap way out . . . I signed them out from the library. I'm sure that one of the reasons behind his course is to market his books outside of academia . . . but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. He deserves a wide audience.
His books are extremely easy to read, which is a huge accomplishment for any academic. He uses anecdotes that are accessible for a wide audience, and he has a gift for explaining dry academic research in a manner that is extremely entertaining. As part of the course, I have had to read some of the articles. I never would have made it to the end of the articles without falling asleep if I hadn't read his book ahead of time.
Ariely covers topics including marketing strategies (for example, how you are being manipulated if you are getting something for 'free'), why we volunteer to do things we would never do in a million years if we got paid for it, and the psychology of honesty. An excellent book if you are interested in human behaviour, that seems irrational at the surface, but actually may have evolutionary (or creationist?) explanations behind it.
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