Another One Day Read

Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior by Ori & Rom Brafman (brothers) is a current business book. Loaded with examples to explain their main points, basically we as humans are drawn to irrational behaviour much to our own detriment. For example, people often see the stock they are invested in going down and some other offering going up, so they will sell theirs at a loss to buy the other. In the end they are buying high, selling low; which is a terrible investing plan but happens all the time. So if you think rationally, this is a great book to show you how stupid we humans can be.

The one point they do not make is that sometimes irrational behaviour pays off so tremendously it keeps leading us back - like gambling.

One thing discussed was the principle of value attribution. If we deem something not worthy, then we tend to dismiss it whether it is rational or not. The below experiment was mentioned. The Washington Post asked Joshua Bell, one of the world's top violinist (and his 3.5 million dollar Stradivarius) to dress in jeans and a baseball hat, go down to the subway at rush hour, and play an impromptu concert. Would people recognize the beauty and greatness regardless of the circumstances. 45 minutes later the answer was a resounding NO. Seven people stopped and he made $32 in change (out of over a 1000 who walked by). This is a guy who had just held a sold out concert for the Washington DC elite the night before in the Library of Congress

Anyways, see why draft position is the most important thing to a new NBA player, or why some people will pay $200 for a regular $20 bill, or the definition of fairness is truly a regional thing.

The Sway Book Website