Newsweek: Fifty books for our time discussion

A "life-changer". Ariely is an intriguing writer and is becoming a personality in his own right. I expect him to become a household name in the next few years, and "behavioral economics" will be touted as a tonic for all of society's ills, inspiring self-help books and seminars. But for now just enjoy the fascinating anecdotes and experiments Ariely describes.
Briefly, classic market theory states that humans are rational creatures. To make a decision rational creatures analyze all the available data and arrive at an evidence based rational conclusion. Ariely says this is not true: not only are many of the decisions people make irrational, but they are predictably irrational. In other words, certain conditions make us consistently irrational. A few examples: we overvalue "free", we take bigger risks when sexually aroused, we tend to choose simpler answers over complicated ones. These behaviors are well known to marketing and advertising companies (they have been exploiting us for years). What separates this book from the "Freakonomics" class is the scientific rigor of the experiments. Ariely's theories are not idle speculation, they are backed by validated scientific studies.
I will probably reread the book in the next few months.

Thanks, Dan. I'll be putting this in my library queue.