Are there tangible benefits in flossing? Is it wrong to fake orgasms? What does the perfect online dating ad look like? Should we bother doing the ironing? Is it really impossible to buy the perfect Christmas gift? (Other than this book, of course.)Economists might not be the first people you would think of to give you advice on such diverse areas as parenting, the intricacies of etiquette or the dark arts of seduction. But for years bestselling author Tim Harford has been doing just that: answering the most challenging questions in his brilliant column, where he uses the tools of economics to give practical advice about everyday dilemmas, conundrums and concerns. From family rows and the stock market to buying socks or speed dating, you''ll find within these pages a witty - and of course rational - explanation for almost everything you ever wanted to know about life.

Everything we know about solving the world''s problems is wrong. Out: Plans, experts and above all, leaders. In: Adapting - improvise rather than plan; fail, learn, and try againIn this groundbreaking new book, Tim Harford shows how the world''s most complex and important problems - including terrorism, climate change, poverty, innovation, and the financial crisis - can only be solved from the bottom up by rapid experimenting and adapting.From a spaceport in the Mojave Desert to the street battles of Iraq, from a blazing offshore drilling rig to everyday decisions in our business and personal lives, this is a handbook for surviving - and prospering - in our complex and ever-shifting world.

Truly eye-opening . . . There is almost no situation that Harford cannot dissect with his sharp economist''s tools . . . economics has never been this cool'' NEW STATESMANIf humans are so clever, why do we smoke and gamble, or take drugs, or fall in love? Is this really rational behaviour? And how come your idiot boss is so overpaid? In fact, the behaviour of even the unlikeliest of individuals - prostitutes, drug addicts, racists and revolutionaries - complies with economic logic, taking into account future costs and benefits, even if we don''t quite realise it. We are rational beings after all.

Who makes most money from the demand for cappuccinos early in the morning at Waterloo Station? Why is it impossible to get a foot on the property ladder? How does the Mafia make money from laundries when street gangs pushing drugs don''t? Who really benefits from immigration? How can China, in just fifty years, go from the world''s worst famine to one of the greatest economic revolutions of all time, lifting a million people out of poverty a month?Looking at familiar situations in unfamiliar ways, THE UNDERCOVER ECONOMIST is a fresh explanation of the fundamental principles of the modern economy, illuminated by examples from the streets of London to the booming skyscrapers of Shanghai to the sleepy canals of Bruges. Leaving behind textbook jargon and equations, Tim Harford will reveal the games of signals and negotiations, contests of strength and battles of wit that drive not only the economy at large but the everyday choices we make.

''Ranging expertly across business, politics and the arts, Tim Harford makes a compelling case for the creative benefits of disorganization, improvisation and confusion. His liberating message: you''ll be more successful if you stop struggling so hard to plan or control your success. Messy is a deeply researched, endlessly eye-opening adventure in the life-changing magic of not tidying up'' Oliver BurkemanThe urge to tidiness seems to be rooted deep in the human psyche. Many of us feel threatened by anything that is vague, unplanned, scattered around or hard to describe. We find comfort in having a script to rely on, a system to follow, in being able to categorise and file away. We all benefit from tidy organisation - up to a point. A large library needs a reference system. Global trade needs the shipping container. Scientific collaboration needs measurement units. But the forces of tidiness have marched too far. Corporate middle managers and government bureaucrats have long tended to insist that everything must have a label, a number and a logical place in a logical system. Now that they are armed with computers and serial numbers, there is little to hold this tidy-mindedness in check. It''s even spilling into our personal lives, as we corral our children into sanitised play areas or entrust our quest for love to the soulless algorithms of dating websites. Order is imposed when chaos would be more productive. Or if not chaos, then . . . messiness.The trouble with tidiness is that, in excess, it becomes rigid, fragile and sterile. In Messy, Tim Harford reveals how qualities we value more than ever - responsiveness, resilience and creativity - simply cannot be disentangled from the messy soil that produces them. This, then, is a book about the benefits of being messy: messy in our private lives; messy in the office, with piles of paper on the desk and unread spreadsheets; messy in the recording studio, the laboratory or in preparing for an important presentation; and messy in our approach to business, politics and economics, leaving things vague, diverse and uncomfortably made-up-on-the-spot. It''s time to rediscover the benefits of a little mess.

Based on the series produced for the BBC World ServiceWho thought up paper money? How did the contraceptive pill change the face of the legal profession? Why was the horse collar as important for human progress as the steam engine? How did the humble spreadsheet turn the world of finance upside-down?The world economy defies comprehension. A continuously-changing system of immense complexity, it offers over ten billion distinct products and services, doubles in size every fifteen years, and links almost every one of the planet''s seven billion people. It delivers astonishing luxury to hundreds of millions. It also leaves hundreds of millions behind, puts tremendous strains on the ecosystem, and has an alarming habit of stalling. Nobody is in charge of it. Indeed, no individual understands more than a fraction of what''s going on. How can we make sense of this bewildering system on which our lives depend?From the tally-stick to Bitcoin, the canal lock to the jumbo jet, each invention in Tim Harford''s fascinating new book has its own curious, surprising and memorable story, a vignette against a grand backdrop. Step by step, readers will start to understand where we are, how we got here, and where we might be going next.Hidden connections will be laid bare: how the barcode undermined family corner shops; why the gramophone widened inequality; how barbed wire shaped America. We''ll meet the characters who developed some of these inventions, profited from them, or were ruined by them. We''ll trace the economic principles that help to explain their transformative effects. And we''ll ask what lessons we can learn to make wise use of future inventions, in a world where the pace of innovation will only accelerate.

The Sunday Times Bestseller''Tim Harford is one of my favourite writers in the world. His storytelling is gripping but never overdone, his intellectual honesty is rare and inspiring, and his ability to make complex things simple - but not simplistic - is exceptional. How to Make the World Add Up is another one of his gems. If you''re looking for an addictive pageturner that will make you smarter, this is your book'' Rutger Bregman, author of Humankind''Tim Harford could well be Britain''s Malcolm Gladwell''Alex Bellos, author of Alex''s Adventures in Numberland''If you aren''t in love with stats before reading this book, you will be by the time you''re done. Powerful, persuasive, and in these truth-defying times, indispensable''Caroline Criado Perez, author of Invisible Women In How to Make the World Add Up, Tim Harford draws on his experience as both an economist and presenter of the BBC''s radio show ''More or Less'' to take us deep into the world of disinformation and obfuscation, bad research and misplaced motivation to find those priceless jewels of data and analysis that make communicating with numbers so rewarding. Through vivid storytelling he reveals how we can evaluate the claims that surround us with confidence, curiosity and a healthy level of scepticism. It is a must-read for anyone who cares about understanding the world around them.''Tim Harford is our most likeable champion of reason and rigour . . . clear, clever and always highly readable''The Times, Books of the Year''Fascinating and enjoyable''Bill Bryson''Now more than ever we need a book like this''Stephen Fry''Wise, humane and, above all, illuminating. Nobody is better on statistics and numbers - and how to make sense of them''Matthew Syed''One of the most wonderful collections of stories that I have read in a long time . . . fascinating.''Steven Levitt, co-author of Freakonomics''Wise and useful . . . such a delight'' Financial Times''What should we do when someone makes a claim that they say is based on data? This wise book, distilled from years of experience, gives us the ten commandments, from first examining our feelings, to finally having the humility to admit we may be wrong. Priceless''Professor Sir David SpiegelhalterAnnounced as a top ten Sunday Times bestseller in paperback on 16 May 2021

''Endlessly insightful and full of surprises - exactly what you would expect from Tim Harford'' BILL BRYSON''Entertaining . . . A lively introduction to some of the most ingenious, yet often overlooked inventions that have changed the way we live'' The Times''Every Tim Harford book is cause for celebration'' MALCOLM GLADWELL''Harford is a fine, perceptive writer, and an effortless explainer of tricky concepts. His book teems with good things, and will expand the mind of anyone lucky enough to read it'' Daily MailIn Fifty Things that Made the Modern Economy, the revolutionary, acclaimed book, radio series and podcast, bestselling economist Tim Harford introduced us to a selection of fifty radical inventions that changed the world.Now, in this new book, Harford once again brings us an array of remarkable, memorable, curious and often unexpected ''things'' - inventions that teach us lessons by turns intimate and sweeping about the complex world economy we live in today.From the brick, blockchain and the bicycle to fire, the factory and fundraising, and from solar PV and the pencil to the postage stamp, this brilliant and enlightening collection resonates, fascinates and stimulates. It is a wonderful blend of insight and inspiration from one of Britain''s finest non-fiction storytellers.

***''A book that all children should read'' - Matthew Syed***-> Did you know that a toy spaceship can teach you about inflation?-> Or that a pooping cow can show you how to invest your pocket money?-> And that even the greatest detectives have been fooled by fake news and dancing fairies?The world is often full of bamboozling headlines and numbers that don''t add up. But don''t panic. Within these pages you will transform into a Truth Detective, hunting down the truth about the world around you. You will meet heroic truth detectives, such as Florence Nightingale who started a revolution with a pie chart. You will encounter dastardly villains who have tried to trip us up with dodgy data and misinformation. And you will learn how being smart and savvy with numbers, will help you be smart and savvy about everything else in life too.So grab your detective cap, pick up your magnifying glass and start seeing the world like never before.A must read for curious kids from presenter of BBC Radio 4''s "More or Less", Tim Harford and with wonderful illustrations to enjoy by Ollie Mann.***LONGLISTED for the SLA''s Information Book Awards 2024***

All five series of Simon Evans’ BBC Radio 4 show explaining economics through comedyHow do you make money funny? How do you put the comedy in commodity? In this BBC radio show, Simon Evans sets himself the challenge of making economics entertaining through comedic lectures, with the help of special guests including investment gurus, financial journalists and economists.In Series 1 and 2, he examines the chequered social and economic histories of eight important commodities: land, gold, oil, grain, alcohol, tobacco, coffee and sugar. By looking at these fundamental products, Simon brings us to a closer understanding of how global economic forces have a far-reaching and often surprising impact on our lives.Series 3 sees him exploring four of the stages that mark our journey through life – youth, marriage, birth and death – and how economics is part of every one of those stages, whether we like it or not. In Series 4, Simon looks at the concept of the ‘free lunch’ and shines a light on new ways of making money in the 21st Century, from social media and multinationals that appear to be operating tax-free to philanthropy and the cost of health.Finally, in Series 5, he points his jokenomics lens at the competing theories of Macro Economics and the ‘Big Beards’ who devised them – Adam Smith, Karl Marx and John Maynard Keynes – and reflects on how they shape our world today, and how they can help us out of our current economic predicament.Among his regular guests are Financial Times columnist and presenter of Radio 4’s More Or Less, Tim Harford; Timandra Harkness, author of Big Data: Does Size Matter?; and the Queen of investment know-how, editor-in-chief of MoneyWeek Merryn Somerset Webb.Produced by Tilusha Ghelani (Series 1), Claire Jones (Series 2 and 3), Richard Morris (Series 4 and 5)

Are there tangible benefits in flossing? Is it wrong to fake orgasms? What does the perfect online dating ad look like? Should we bother doing the ironing? Is it really impossible to buy the perfect Christmas gift? (Other than this book, of course.)Economists might not be the first people you would think of to give you advice on such diverse areas as parenting, the intricacies of etiquette or the dark arts of seduction. But for years bestselling author Tim Harford has been doing just that: answering the most challenging questions in his brilliant column, where he uses the tools of economics to give practical advice about everyday dilemmas, conundrums and concerns. From family rows and the stock market to buying socks or speed dating, you''ll find within these pages a witty - and of course rational - explanation for almost everything you ever wanted to know about life.

Everything we know about solving the world''s problems is wrong. Out: Plans, experts and above all, leaders. In: Adapting - improvise rather than plan; fail, learn, and try againIn this groundbreaking new book, Tim Harford shows how the world''s most complex and important problems - including terrorism, climate change, poverty, innovation, and the financial crisis - can only be solved from the bottom up by rapid experimenting and adapting.From a spaceport in the Mojave Desert to the street battles of Iraq, from a blazing offshore drilling rig to everyday decisions in our business and personal lives, this is a handbook for surviving - and prospering - in our complex and ever-shifting world.

Truly eye-opening . . . There is almost no situation that Harford cannot dissect with his sharp economist''s tools . . . economics has never been this cool'' NEW STATESMANIf humans are so clever, why do we smoke and gamble, or take drugs, or fall in love? Is this really rational behaviour? And how come your idiot boss is so overpaid? In fact, the behaviour of even the unlikeliest of individuals - prostitutes, drug addicts, racists and revolutionaries - complies with economic logic, taking into account future costs and benefits, even if we don''t quite realise it. We are rational beings after all.

Who makes most money from the demand for cappuccinos early in the morning at Waterloo Station? Why is it impossible to get a foot on the property ladder? How does the Mafia make money from laundries when street gangs pushing drugs don''t? Who really benefits from immigration? How can China, in just fifty years, go from the world''s worst famine to one of the greatest economic revolutions of all time, lifting a million people out of poverty a month?Looking at familiar situations in unfamiliar ways, THE UNDERCOVER ECONOMIST is a fresh explanation of the fundamental principles of the modern economy, illuminated by examples from the streets of London to the booming skyscrapers of Shanghai to the sleepy canals of Bruges. Leaving behind textbook jargon and equations, Tim Harford will reveal the games of signals and negotiations, contests of strength and battles of wit that drive not only the economy at large but the everyday choices we make.

''Ranging expertly across business, politics and the arts, Tim Harford makes a compelling case for the creative benefits of disorganization, improvisation and confusion. His liberating message: you''ll be more successful if you stop struggling so hard to plan or control your success. Messy is a deeply researched, endlessly eye-opening adventure in the life-changing magic of not tidying up'' Oliver BurkemanThe urge to tidiness seems to be rooted deep in the human psyche. Many of us feel threatened by anything that is vague, unplanned, scattered around or hard to describe. We find comfort in having a script to rely on, a system to follow, in being able to categorise and file away. We all benefit from tidy organisation - up to a point. A large library needs a reference system. Global trade needs the shipping container. Scientific collaboration needs measurement units. But the forces of tidiness have marched too far. Corporate middle managers and government bureaucrats have long tended to insist that everything must have a label, a number and a logical place in a logical system. Now that they are armed with computers and serial numbers, there is little to hold this tidy-mindedness in check. It''s even spilling into our personal lives, as we corral our children into sanitised play areas or entrust our quest for love to the soulless algorithms of dating websites. Order is imposed when chaos would be more productive. Or if not chaos, then . . . messiness.The trouble with tidiness is that, in excess, it becomes rigid, fragile and sterile. In Messy, Tim Harford reveals how qualities we value more than ever - responsiveness, resilience and creativity - simply cannot be disentangled from the messy soil that produces them. This, then, is a book about the benefits of being messy: messy in our private lives; messy in the office, with piles of paper on the desk and unread spreadsheets; messy in the recording studio, the laboratory or in preparing for an important presentation; and messy in our approach to business, politics and economics, leaving things vague, diverse and uncomfortably made-up-on-the-spot. It''s time to rediscover the benefits of a little mess.

Based on the series produced for the BBC World ServiceWho thought up paper money? How did the contraceptive pill change the face of the legal profession? Why was the horse collar as important for human progress as the steam engine? How did the humble spreadsheet turn the world of finance upside-down?The world economy defies comprehension. A continuously-changing system of immense complexity, it offers over ten billion distinct products and services, doubles in size every fifteen years, and links almost every one of the planet''s seven billion people. It delivers astonishing luxury to hundreds of millions. It also leaves hundreds of millions behind, puts tremendous strains on the ecosystem, and has an alarming habit of stalling. Nobody is in charge of it. Indeed, no individual understands more than a fraction of what''s going on. How can we make sense of this bewildering system on which our lives depend?From the tally-stick to Bitcoin, the canal lock to the jumbo jet, each invention in Tim Harford''s fascinating new book has its own curious, surprising and memorable story, a vignette against a grand backdrop. Step by step, readers will start to understand where we are, how we got here, and where we might be going next.Hidden connections will be laid bare: how the barcode undermined family corner shops; why the gramophone widened inequality; how barbed wire shaped America. We''ll meet the characters who developed some of these inventions, profited from them, or were ruined by them. We''ll trace the economic principles that help to explain their transformative effects. And we''ll ask what lessons we can learn to make wise use of future inventions, in a world where the pace of innovation will only accelerate.

The Sunday Times Bestseller''Tim Harford is one of my favourite writers in the world. His storytelling is gripping but never overdone, his intellectual honesty is rare and inspiring, and his ability to make complex things simple - but not simplistic - is exceptional. How to Make the World Add Up is another one of his gems. If you''re looking for an addictive pageturner that will make you smarter, this is your book'' Rutger Bregman, author of Humankind''Tim Harford could well be Britain''s Malcolm Gladwell''Alex Bellos, author of Alex''s Adventures in Numberland''If you aren''t in love with stats before reading this book, you will be by the time you''re done. Powerful, persuasive, and in these truth-defying times, indispensable''Caroline Criado Perez, author of Invisible Women In How to Make the World Add Up, Tim Harford draws on his experience as both an economist and presenter of the BBC''s radio show ''More or Less'' to take us deep into the world of disinformation and obfuscation, bad research and misplaced motivation to find those priceless jewels of data and analysis that make communicating with numbers so rewarding. Through vivid storytelling he reveals how we can evaluate the claims that surround us with confidence, curiosity and a healthy level of scepticism. It is a must-read for anyone who cares about understanding the world around them.''Tim Harford is our most likeable champion of reason and rigour . . . clear, clever and always highly readable''The Times, Books of the Year''Fascinating and enjoyable''Bill Bryson''Now more than ever we need a book like this''Stephen Fry''Wise, humane and, above all, illuminating. Nobody is better on statistics and numbers - and how to make sense of them''Matthew Syed''One of the most wonderful collections of stories that I have read in a long time . . . fascinating.''Steven Levitt, co-author of Freakonomics''Wise and useful . . . such a delight'' Financial Times''What should we do when someone makes a claim that they say is based on data? This wise book, distilled from years of experience, gives us the ten commandments, from first examining our feelings, to finally having the humility to admit we may be wrong. Priceless''Professor Sir David SpiegelhalterAnnounced as a top ten Sunday Times bestseller in paperback on 16 May 2021

''Endlessly insightful and full of surprises - exactly what you would expect from Tim Harford'' BILL BRYSON''Entertaining . . . A lively introduction to some of the most ingenious, yet often overlooked inventions that have changed the way we live'' The Times''Every Tim Harford book is cause for celebration'' MALCOLM GLADWELL''Harford is a fine, perceptive writer, and an effortless explainer of tricky concepts. His book teems with good things, and will expand the mind of anyone lucky enough to read it'' Daily MailIn Fifty Things that Made the Modern Economy, the revolutionary, acclaimed book, radio series and podcast, bestselling economist Tim Harford introduced us to a selection of fifty radical inventions that changed the world.Now, in this new book, Harford once again brings us an array of remarkable, memorable, curious and often unexpected ''things'' - inventions that teach us lessons by turns intimate and sweeping about the complex world economy we live in today.From the brick, blockchain and the bicycle to fire, the factory and fundraising, and from solar PV and the pencil to the postage stamp, this brilliant and enlightening collection resonates, fascinates and stimulates. It is a wonderful blend of insight and inspiration from one of Britain''s finest non-fiction storytellers.

***''A book that all children should read'' - Matthew Syed***-> Did you know that a toy spaceship can teach you about inflation?-> Or that a pooping cow can show you how to invest your pocket money?-> And that even the greatest detectives have been fooled by fake news and dancing fairies?The world is often full of bamboozling headlines and numbers that don''t add up. But don''t panic. Within these pages you will transform into a Truth Detective, hunting down the truth about the world around you. You will meet heroic truth detectives, such as Florence Nightingale who started a revolution with a pie chart. You will encounter dastardly villains who have tried to trip us up with dodgy data and misinformation. And you will learn how being smart and savvy with numbers, will help you be smart and savvy about everything else in life too.So grab your detective cap, pick up your magnifying glass and start seeing the world like never before.A must read for curious kids from presenter of BBC Radio 4''s "More or Less", Tim Harford and with wonderful illustrations to enjoy by Ollie Mann.***LONGLISTED for the SLA''s Information Book Awards 2024***

All five series of Simon Evans’ BBC Radio 4 show explaining economics through comedyHow do you make money funny? How do you put the comedy in commodity? In this BBC radio show, Simon Evans sets himself the challenge of making economics entertaining through comedic lectures, with the help of special guests including investment gurus, financial journalists and economists.In Series 1 and 2, he examines the chequered social and economic histories of eight important commodities: land, gold, oil, grain, alcohol, tobacco, coffee and sugar. By looking at these fundamental products, Simon brings us to a closer understanding of how global economic forces have a far-reaching and often surprising impact on our lives.Series 3 sees him exploring four of the stages that mark our journey through life – youth, marriage, birth and death – and how economics is part of every one of those stages, whether we like it or not. In Series 4, Simon looks at the concept of the ‘free lunch’ and shines a light on new ways of making money in the 21st Century, from social media and multinationals that appear to be operating tax-free to philanthropy and the cost of health.Finally, in Series 5, he points his jokenomics lens at the competing theories of Macro Economics and the ‘Big Beards’ who devised them – Adam Smith, Karl Marx and John Maynard Keynes – and reflects on how they shape our world today, and how they can help us out of our current economic predicament.Among his regular guests are Financial Times columnist and presenter of Radio 4’s More Or Less, Tim Harford; Timandra Harkness, author of Big Data: Does Size Matter?; and the Queen of investment know-how, editor-in-chief of MoneyWeek Merryn Somerset Webb.Produced by Tilusha Ghelani (Series 1), Claire Jones (Series 2 and 3), Richard Morris (Series 4 and 5)