Tim Harford simply rocks. One of my three choices for best book I read last year was his Undercover Economist. He's currently on a major tour plugging his follow-up, The Logic Of Life. Which includes appearing on The Colbert Report:
( It's logical to vote with your gut, Pepsi and Coke are like straight sex and oral )
I keep meaning to write it up, I've been promising a few people a post on markets and why they're important for ages, just haven't actually done it. You'd be better of reading his book anyway. If you want a more sane but long reason, he's on Authors@Google as well:
( Look, it's 55 minutes long, I'm about 15 minutes in, you expect me to summarise it? Rationality of crime and economics of communities )
Logic of Life is heading rapidly up my wants list, paperback is out in a week or so, yay!