Freakonomics harnesses the power of economic theory to explore how human life is dominated by incentives, how information asymmetries impact societies, and how to really tell the difference between causation and correlation.

Economics is often referred to as 'the dismal science' - not exactly the best conversation topic at parties.

But in fact, economics is about much more than money - it's about how and why people make decisions.

Steven Levitt is an economics professor at the University of Chicago, while Stephen Dubner is a journalist and the host of Freakonomics Radio.

In this 2005 book, the authors use economics to explore the surprising ways in which data and decisions interact in fields of life from sumo wrestling and drug dealing to real estate and education.