Dollars and Sense: How We Misthink Money and How to Spend Smarter

Ariely (Payoff), a psychology professor, and Kreisler (Get Rich Cheating), a comedian, zero in on the average person’s relationship to money in this valuable guide. Part one, “What Is Money,” and part two, “How We Assess Value in Ways That Have Little to Do with Value,” describe ways people “misthink money,” even when these ways seem to be rational. Part three, “Put Your Money where Your Mind Is,” offers strategies for coping with our irrationality. Where money is concerned, “what should matter are opportunity costs, the true benefit a purchase provides, and the real pleasure we receive from it compared to other ways we could spend our money.” The authors assert that people “don’t handle [money] in a way that makes sense” but rather “in a way that feels good.” The authors also address the issue of paying on credit, which they say takes away the pain of having to hand over cash and can lead to overspending. Engaging and funny, rife with anecdotes and advice, the book defangs a difficult topic while teaching a lot. [em]Agent: James Levine, Levine Greenberg Literary Agency. (Nov.) [/em]