Freakonomics

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything ($16) is one of those books that keeps flying off the shelves at an ever increasing rate — it's almost impossible to read this book and not tell someone about it. So tell you about it we shall: Freakonomics gives a no-nonsense take on issues that you're familiar with. Even though it's co-written by Steven Levvit (an actual economist who gets his jollies from inflation and the GNP) you can rest assured there are no supply curves to memorize, only interesting stuff — drug dealers, real estate agents, abortion, parenting and more. Hot button issues, but Levitt lets the numbers speak for themselves which reads like a breath of fresh air.