In this sequel to his great book Predictably Irrational, Dan Ariely gives further examples of his experiments in behavioral economics, but also delves into how one might be able to use that irrationality to improve ones life.

Ariely through a series of experiments is able to demonstrate that not only do we react in irrational ways, we are also influenced by things that we are unaware of. In one experiment he shows how a bad mood one day can change a person's behavior over the course of weeks.

But since our irrational behavior is in fact predictable (as his previous book showed) we can use some of these influences to attempt to train ourselves to respond the way we wish we would.

Along the way Ariely touches on many things, like the universally negative results of pressure (no one in fact thrives on it) and the reason that people react more strongly to individuals than to large groups of people.

You won't come away from this book suddenly able to achieve everything you wanted in life, but you will have a much better understanding of where you may have gone wrong and why other people are acting the way they are.