Reddit reviews The Undercover Economist: Exposing Why the Rich Are Rich, the Poor Are Poor--and Why You Can Never Buy a Decent Used Car!

• The Undercover Economist - Has a pretty similar feel to Freakonomics. Basically economic concepts applied to every day things.
  
  
• Spin-Free Economics - More like a textbook in format. There are a bunch of short chapters on various topics which he analyzes using economic theory. Some of the Amazon reviews say it's a pretty standard free-market capitalist style thinking and not "spin-free" but it's a good primer on basic concepts imo.
  
  
• Predictably Irrational - Behavioral economics, which is basically taking psychology and applying it to econ. Basically economic models rely on humans being rational and the Ariely's research is all about how humans aren't a lot of the time. This area of econ interests me most, so if you like this book, the Upside of Irrationality, Sway, and Nudge are all pretty interesting too.
  
  
• Malcolm Gladwell's books (Outliers, Tipping Point, Blink) aren't about econ but they're in the realm of "dumbed down" interesting things.

I would recommend Tim Harford's The Undercover Economist. It covers a lot of the basic principles while still being quite readable.

I thought that The Undercover Economist was far superior to Freakonomics

> It would be like a game of sorts. Learn all the handshakes, play golf with important people, all the while my end goal would be to learn their game and use it to favor the less fortunate.

You sound very young! Unfortunately it is not just a matter of secret handshakes..

Can I recommend another book which will probably give you lots of inspirations? The author is an admirer of Thomas Schelling's work, so it ties nicely with the second book I suggested before:

The Undercover Economist: Exposing Why the Rich Are Rich, the Poor Are Poor--and Why You Can Never Buy a Decent Used Car!

You seem to have a similar taste in non-fiction to me. Here are a few more that I've either read or have been recommended to me.

The Undercover Economist

I.O.U Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No Once Can Pay


I heard this guy give a fascinating interview but his book is getting mixed reviews, I'm still tempted though...

Predictioneers-Game

Saw a Tim Harford link and remembered this. Also helped me understand more about human rationality and morality.

The undercover economist

Freakonomics

This is actually from The Undercover Economist. Good read.