Sunday, October 4, 2009

How We Decide - Book #91



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Title How We Decide
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Author John Lehrer
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Genre Nonfiction
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Pages 259
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Publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
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Copyright 2009
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Synopsis (from web-site)
From the acclaimed author of "Proust Was a Neuroscientist" comes a fascinating look at the new science of decision-making. Lehrer explores two questions: How does the human mind make decisions? and How can those decisions be made better?

Why I read It
I love this topic.

The Good
A lot of examples which bring the main points of decision making right to the front.

The Bad
Not a lot, but you have to have some interest in the subject. It also may upset some of your preconcieved notions of why you do what you do.

The Ugly (my opinion)
Great book which shouuld stimulate some interesting debates. I really love the quote from Neils Bohr.
"An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field".
The examples of demonstrating the difference between a psychopath's decision making process was particularly fascinating.

The Truth? (other reviews)
New York Times

Mormon Mentions
None

Author Biography
I'm a Contributing Editor at Wired and the author of How We Decide and Proust Was a Neuroscientist. I graduated from Columbia University and studied at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. I've written for The New Yorker, Nature, Seed, The Washington Post and The Boston Globe. I'm also a Contributing Editor at Scientific American Mind and National Public Radio's Radio Lab.

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