Some of the negative reviewers fault the book because it doesn't tell them how to master online dating. Read the title, folks, this is a book about economics that draws its examples from online dating. It could just as easily have used real estate or horse trading, but then people would not buy. Mr. Oyer has nailed it by choosing a title that attracts. He has learned the economics and the dating principles.

I received a review copy of "Everything I Ever Needed to Know about Economics I Learned from Online Dating" by Paul Oyer (Harvard Business Review Press) directly from the publisher. ( )

I liked it. He was funny and informative. I'm in a similar life situation. Liked the way each chapter was summed up to reinforce the micro-economic principle he was focusing on.

Is the science of economics so dismal that not even the frisson of romance can add a spark to it? I fear so. Paul Oyer writes clearly and lucidly, but alas, his subject matter defeats him. Google Chris McKinlay or Amy Webb to find more interesting and valuable sociological—and by implication, economic—insight from the vast trove of Big Data which online dating provides. Or follow the OK Cupid blog, which is brilliant. I was a little disappointed, in spite of enjoying Oyer's undoubted gifts as a storyteller and teacher. ( )