A Down-to-Earth Look at Life’s Money Struggles

Reading Hate the Game feels like sitting down with someone who really gets what we’re up against today. Daryl Fairweather, an economist with real-life insights, doesn’t hold back on how capitalism often feels stacked against us. Right from the start, she breaks down ideas like “survivorship bias” and shows how privilege shapes many success stories we see, making this book feel honest and relatable.

Her strategies offer hope without pretending the game isn’t stacked, focusing on how we can make choices that align with our own values, no matter where we’re starting from.

With relatable storytelling and no-nonsense guidance, Hate the Game is a solid pick for anyone who wants to approach life’s financial challenges with a clearer sense of purpose and strategy. This book doesn’t just talk about the game, it helps you play it your way.

Daryl Fairweather’s Hate the Game: Economic Cheat Codes for Life, Love, and Work is an engaging guide that takes high-level economic concepts like game theory and breaks them down into practical, real-life strategies for navigating adult milestones. Whether it’s deciding between renting or buying, negotiating a salary, or figuring out when to make career moves, Fairweather’s advice feels like a pep talk from a really smart friend who also knows the system is rigged.

What I loved most was how she used personal anecdotes alongside history and pop culture to make the lessons relatable. It’s honest about the struggles of working within a flawed economy but still manages to be empowering. If you’ve ever felt like life’s a game where everyone else knows the rules but you, this book offers a cheat sheet to help you level up. It’s practical, sharp, and surprisingly fun for a book about economics! Perfect for fans of Freakonomics who want something a bit more personal and life-oriented.

I really enjoyed Daryl Fairweather's book about applying economic game theory to major life decisions. It is clear that Dr. Fairweather was a student of Steven D. Levitt (Freakonomics Author). Her style is similar. It is easy to read, informative, and filled with interesting and relatable examples.

Dr. Fairweather points out that many business advice books are autobiographical, like Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg. She shares what worked for her and how to do it yourself. But this book points out that what worked for Ms. Sandberg won't work for everyone all the time. So, I was a little surprised by the autobiographical nature of this book, but it works.

Hate the Game covers most of the concepts taught in an Econ 101 class, in a way that explains the principles but does not feel like a textbook at all. It explains how Dr. Fairweather used economics to make logical decisions about going to graduate school during the global recession, leaving the academic work and taking a consulting job, leaving that job and moving to Seattle, fighting for a promotion, buying a home, managing her marriage, having children, knowing your worth in the job market, selling a home, and optimizing your life.

The idea of thinking about each of these huge and emotional life decisions in a logical way that maximizing your well-being (utility) is an excellent tool for people looking for new ways of thinking. Each of these has an inside and outside option. Your inside option is what you are doing now (working in academia, being married, living in your current home) and the outside option is change (working in the private sector, getting divorce, moving). Looking at each life decision and evaluating the inside and outside options is a great skill.

This book uses economic principles to help understand the costs and benefits of both options. Everything for sunk-cost fallacy to references prices are included. It includes examples from Dr. Fairweather's personal life as well as pop culture references like why Destiny's Child broke up. Each of these examples explains the concept, but also makes the information stick- easy to remember and apply to your life.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC, this review is my honest opinion of the book.