Book read: Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely

An interesting read about human behaviour, and in particular how behaviour can be subtly changed by seemingly benign conditions and priming factors. The background context of the book is economic behaviour and why we behave certain ways. The ways are deemed "irrational", but the author is trying to show that they are predictably so. There is an awful lot of material covered in this book, almost all backed up by a lab style experiment involving volunteers. The most interesting parts are anchoring of prices by almost subliminal suggestive methods and the anchoring by the concept of "FREE" in marketing campaigns. The experiments are trying to expose and explain the underlying behaviour, there is a sense that modern marketing and advertising knows that the techniques work but Ariely wants to explore why work and provide some deeper understanding. Well worth a read, a book in the same vein as Freakonomics.