On the way back from holiday in Ireland, I picked up a copy of 'Dear Under Cover Economist by Tim Harford and really enjoyed reading through the questions and answers.

There is a range of everyday questions, related to economics.

For example,

• Why do People wait outside train doors delaying people getting off when they would be better giving more space?
• Is it worth paying for municipal car parking charges when the chance of getting fined for not paying is low?
• Why Should I wash my Car? It will be dirty tomorrow?
• My girlfriend never orders cake for dessert, but, then always eats my cake that I order - what should I do?
• In restaurants, my husband always chooses better items than me, but, it's boring to always choose the same as him. What should I do?
  

The answers all use some kind of economic theory from the prisoners dilemma , to income life-cycle hypothesis and rational expectations hypothesis. It's all an entertaining way to express everyday lifestyle questions in economic terms. It creates a good mixture of entertainment and enlightenment - a playful guide to everyday living.

• Dear Undercover Economist at Amazon.co.uk