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The perceptive writer is an effortless explainer of tricky concepts and his books teem with nuggets of information. Once again he brings an array of memorable curious and unexpected 'things' from the brick, block chain and bicycle to fire, the factory and fundraising, from solar PV and the pencil to the postage stamp, from the tally-stick to the barcode, concrete to cuneiform. Each invention in Tim Harford's fascinating new book has its own curious, surprising and memorable story, a vignette against a grand backdrop. His sections on barbed wire, passports, the contraceptive pill, infant formula, and even that IKEA staple the Billy Bookcase are well researched and hugely entertaining nuggets of history about economics and maths. 343pp, paperback.