I like to think that I’ve always been a somewhat curious person, but through my participation in Leadership Calgary in 2009, I was challenged to take it up a notch, to broaden my focus and deepen my analysis. I was surprised by how enjoyable exploring new ideas could be. Like the child who frustratingly asks “…but why?” to every explanation his parent tries to offer, I discovered a bottomless well of questions—an unending line of inquiry.

The rioting in London seems like a fitting backdrop for reviewing a book about societal inequality, although the timing of my review, and their riots, is purely coincidental. In “The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better” we are exposed to a compelling stream of data and analysis that aims to show that whether you care about health, or crime, or education, or social mobility, (or…), you should be caring about social and economic inequality.

Nobody likes being forced to do something, even if it’s the right thing. That we often choose the wrong thing is the problem that Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein seek to address in “Nudge”.

“Nudge” is another in a growing genre of books that blends insights from psychology and economics. From Blink to Bounce, the Upside of Irrationality to Spousonomics and many others in between, these books are an alluring temptation for readers interested in the hidden workings of the human psyche.

Did you know that exercising does not help you lose weight? Or that eating too much does not make you fat? According to the new (2011) book by science journalist Gary Taubes, the failure of modern science and public health to acknowledge the primary reasons we get fat: excess carbohydrate in our diets, is the cause of our worsening obesity epidemic and rising rates of its related illnesses: diabetes, heart disease and cancer.