From Freakonomist to Inner Economist and then to Economic Naturalist

On this week's EconTalk, Robert Frank of Cornell University talks about economic education and his recent book, The Economic Naturalist (watch a video lecture on this). Frank argues that the traditional way of teaching economics via graphs and equations often fails to make any impression on students and then outlines an alternative approach from his new book, where students find interesting questions and enigmas from everyday life.

One question I find most interesting:
Why bridegrooms rent tuxedos for the ceremonies while brides tend to buy the wedding dresses, although the dresses are much more expensive and are probabaly worn only once?

The topics discussed also include the level of civility (or lack thereof) in New York City, the difference between vending machines for soda and newspapers, the tragedy of the commons(also my previous post), and the economics of love.