Come Back from the Beach a Bit Savvier

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Rodenstock convinced Forbes and others, including industrialist Bill Koch, that he had stumbled on a cache of wine bottled in 1787 and bought by Thomas Jefferson. Needless to say, he hadn't. Wallace's telling of the tale is a captivating study of complicity between the fleeced and the fleecer.

Richard H. Thaler, the grand old man of behavioral economics, and Cass R. Sunstein, President Barack Obama's regulations czar, teamed up to write Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness (Penguin, $16). The idea that humans make choices irrationally shouldn't come as a surprise. But Thaler and Sunstein have formulated a remedy—of sorts: Governments and organizations can gently steer, or nudge, people down the wisest paths without taking away anyone's freedom of choice. This insightful book is selling well and is almost certain to influence public policy.

What happens in Vegas, especially among the men who built it, makes for a titillating read. Winner Takes All: Steve Wynn, Kirk Kerkorian, Gary Loveman, and the Race to Own Las Vegas (Hyperion, $15.99) examines the risk-taking and the outrageous egos of three inventive and diverse players in the gambling world. Author Christina Binkley doesn't reach any lofty conclusions about them, but her rich reporting brings to life Wynn the showman, Kerkorian the dealmaker, and Loveman the technician in dazzling and sometimes disgusting fashion.

In the acclaimed A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World (Grove Press $16.95), William J. Bernstein roams freely through history to nail down long-distance trade's 7,000-year evolution, as well as its costs and many benefits. From the Silk Road to Vasco da Gama in Goa to American beef on Queen Victoria's plate, Bernstein delivers the goods in an entertaining way. The book opens near the Euphrates River in 3,000 B.C., with copper-helmeted nomadic raiders setting off an arms race and spurring trade. But Bernstein argues that trade has made the world a safer place, if only because our "neighbors are more useful alive than dead." Remember that as you search for a place to spread your blanket at the beach.

Barry Maggs is a Senior Copy Editor at BusinessWeek and edits Jack and Suzy Welch's column, The WelchWay. He also handles book reviews for the Business Views section of the magazine. Prior to joining BusinessWeek in 2000, he was Managing Editor of HK Magazine, Associate Editor of Asia Inc., and Editor of Canadian Building Magazine. He is a graduate of the journalism program at Ryerson University in Toronto.