How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life: An Unexpected Guide to Human Nature and Happiness by Russ RobertsMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is basically an excellent book review of "The Theory of Moral Sentiments" by Adam Smith, which is probably better than just reading the book itself, since Roberts obviously understands a great deal about Smith and about what he meant by certain arcane expressions, etc. In fact, maybe it's more like taking a seminar on the book. Regardless, the outcome is a sort of self-help book, not about economics, but more about what today we might call Behavioral economics.
Most of the points being made aren't necessarily new, but in fact it is sometimes surprising how certain concepts that get labeled "new age" were in vogue in the late 1700s.
An interesting parallel Roberts noted was how since the War on drugs started in the 1980s, there has actually been a bigger decrease in smokers than in drug users. Sometimes you can't legislate things out of existence.
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