# Recommend a similar book to Freakonomics... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 16, 2009, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-similar-book-to-freakonomics/521543 "2009-12-16T22:50:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-similar-book-to-freakonomics/521543/1 "2009-12-16T22:50:32Z")
…or to the book that accompanies the TV series QI, the New Scientist collection of questions and answers, basically any witty collection of scientific or historic trivia. Just by way of a stocking filler for Dad, he likes books that he can dip into like those. I’m aware they all have series or sequels, so I was looking for something similar but by different authors. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-similar-book-to-freakonomics/521543/2 "2009-12-16T22:53:01Z")
IF your dad likes Freakonomics and it’s sequel, he might like Tim Hartford, the “Underground Economist” ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-similar-book-to-freakonomics/521543/3 "2009-12-16T22:53:50Z")
Consider this thread subscribed to, so I can also get tips on similar books. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![snorlax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@snorlax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snorlax)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-similar-book-to-freakonomics/521543/4 "2009-12-16T22:54:28Z")
These two books are similar to _Freakonomics_ in that they deal with behavioural economics and are fascinating reads. _Predictably Irrational_ by Dan Ariely _The Logic of Life_ by Tim Harford ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-similar-book-to-freakonomics/521543/5 "2009-12-16T23:06:09Z")
Pushkin, something like those Schott’s Miscellany books might be good. HMV do a rake of books like that, worth checking out their books section. Or how about some straight dope books? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-similar-book-to-freakonomics/521543/6 "2009-12-16T23:10:47Z")
I really enjoyed [The Know it All](http://www.ajjacobs.com/content/book.asp) by A.J. Jacobs. It’s arranged around both trivia and investigation, but is an autobiography too. Really entertaining - I had it as my bathroom reader for several months. ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-similar-book-to-freakonomics/521543/7 "2009-12-16T23:19:51Z")
My dad likes these kinds of books, too. He liked Malcom Gladwell’s _The Tipping Point_ when I got it for his birthday, so he’s getting \*Blink \*for Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![tim-n-va](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim-n-va/32/3001_2.png) [@tim-n-va](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim-n-va)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-similar-book-to-freakonomics/521543/8 "2009-12-16T23:29:36Z")
\*More Sex Is Safer Sex: The Unconventional Wisdom of Economics \* ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-similar-book-to-freakonomics/521543/9 "2009-12-16T23:40:18Z")
There’s obviously the sequel, _SuperFreakonomics_. I also thoroughly enjoyed _The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives_, by Leonard Mlodinow. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-similar-book-to-freakonomics/521543/10 "2009-12-17T00:03:45Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > IF your dad likes Freakonomics and it’s sequel, he might like Tim Hartford, the “Underground Economist” Thanks for all the economics suggestions. I forgot to say that as an ex-banker, he does like a little more of the economics over science. Or at least can understand it a little better 🙂 > [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Pushkin, something like those Schott’s Miscellany books might be good. HMV do a rake of books like that, worth checking out their books section. Or how about some straight dope books? 😃 I might just check out HMV, I’d forgotten about their book selection. Schott veers a little into Mum’s sense of humour and out of Dad’s. He prefers something very quiet and then he sudden changes his mind and goes for Naked Gun/Blazing Saddles fare. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-similar-book-to-freakonomics/521543/11 "2009-12-17T00:08:06Z")
> [@snorlax](#): > > These two books are similar to _Freakonomics_ in that they deal with behavioural economics and are fascinating reads. > > _Predictably Irrational_ by Dan Ariely > _The Logic of Life_ by Tim Harford There is also _Nudge_ by Thaler and Sunstein, but Ariely’s book is more fun, since the Thaler book talks more about policy. Both are better than Freakonomics, if only because they talk about experiments they actually did instead of implying that they did. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-similar-book-to-freakonomics/521543/12 "2009-12-17T01:39:45Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > IF your dad likes Freakonomics and it’s sequel, he might like Tim Hartford, the “Underground Economist” It’s spelled Harford and is the same author as the Logic of Life author mentioned later. The Underground Economist is far, far better than Freakonomics.