cool read on irrationality

[Tri Girl]

I like "predictably irrational" I think I want that on a T-shirt.

I would buy that, because it describes me to a tee.

[OakLeaf]

Fascinating. I've added that to my Sony Reader wishlist. I thought that might be the book you were talking about in the other thread - it sounds like it's along the same lines as Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior by Ori and Rom Brafman, which is a short, easy but well-annotated and very enlightening read.

But then when I took Maidei to the Great Circle Mound this afternoon and stopped in the gift shop, I saw a (600 page) book that really tied in with a couple of others about human physical and cultural evolution that I've read recently. So I grabbed that ... I'm already in the middle of a novel ... and now my stack of unread books is piling up again.

[lph]

Dang. The book had a bunch of appendixes (appendices?) at the back, so I finished it long before I expected to. I hate that. I'll have to keep an eye open for Sway.

He just skims the surface, but a couple of things really resonated with me. Like the unwillingness to "close doors", even when it's obvious that cutting out one option is the best thing to do. People hate to restrict their options, even when there are too many of them and the only rational or even possible thing to do is to commit to one of them. Whether it's choosing a career or a partner or just a virtual door in a computer game - or in my case, a sport or activity - we would often rather waste time and effort bouncing back and forth keeping all doors open for as long as possible rather than sinking our efforts into one choice.

Very interesting reading, especially for all us creatures of habit!

[indysteel]

Thanks for the review. Ariely's an NPR favorite so while I haven't read the books, I've heard a number of interviews with him. He has a relatively new book out, too, called the Upside of Irrationality.

[pll]

Predictably Irrational is great book, well written and engaging. Ariely is now at Duke, but you should check his teaching page (best ever... try to check his office hours): http://web.mit.edu/ariely/www/MIT/teaching.shtml

And he blogs at http://danariely.com/

Along similar lines, Nudge by Richard Thaler (rumored in the last few years for a Nobel in econ) and Cass Sunstein. The experiments are equally interesting, but the tone is not as engaging as Ariely's. Here's the blog associated to the book, but doubt that written by Thaler or Sunstein: http://nudges.org/

[ivorygorgon]

On Amazon, there is an option for "buying" some chapters from both of his books. It is free. I think there is a bit more content than on a sample.

Thanks for the recommendation. I am always looking for good stuff to read, and I love to read descriptions of the recommendations, rather than "I read this and it was good, check it out."