Do you know why we sometimes find ourselves excitedly buying things we don’t really need?

Do you know why we still have a headache after taking a five-cent aspirin, but why that same headache vanishes when the aspirin costs 50 cents?

The first book selection from the Product Manager’s Book Club–Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely–strives to answer those questions.

Irrational? Maybe. Predictable? Only in the comics.

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Dan Ariely, Professor of Behavioral Economics at Duke University, has a great weekly podcast on iTunes called Arming The Donkeys.

Each podcast runs about 10 minutes–perfect size–and features an informal chat between Dan and a guest researcher on the topics of social, behavioral, or natural sciences.

My favorites so far were on the topics of bottled water (marketing that can harm you) and how a lap dancer’s ovulatory cycle can influence her tips…