Rush

A former White House director of economic policy makes the outrageous argument that we don't really want to relax-we want to compete.

We think we will be happy when we have some downtime-when we can finally go on vacation, disconnect, shut down. But in this provocative book, Todd Buchholz will convince you that what you really want is to chase your tail-even if you never catch it.

Weaving in everything from neuroeconomics to evolutionary biology to renaissance art to General Motors, Buchholz will convince you that the race to compete has not only made us taller and smarter, it's what we love and need. Among the book's many counterintuitive takeaways are:

* Put off retirement-it can make you stupid.

* We all need to be control freaks.

* In-house competition is actually great for morale.

* Never let the ninth place team take home a trophy.

Witty, breezy, and very funny, Todd Buchholz shows that it's the race itself that literally delivers the rush, even if we never reach the finish line.