Thinking, Fast and Slow

Nobel prizes aren’t handed out like candy and “Thinking Fast and Slow” is a clear demonstration of Kahneman’s intellect and knowledge. The details and insights into the human mind, decision making, rationality and irrationality, and the economic implications are truly fascinating. He provides a scientific basis for everything he writes about, and on a level which can be grasped by the average reader. Furthermore, he goes in with initial hypotheses, then provides experimental examples, and then provides a basic data analysis of those very same examples.

This is a long book with a plethora of insights and lessons to learn. Unfortunately, this makes it not an easy read nor a short read, very similarly to other books in this field. Furthermore, from a certain perspective this book never comes to any other conclusions other than the fact that because you are human these are pitfalls that you will never be able to avoid even if you’re cognizant of them. The insights are fascinating, but application is weak.

In his mega bestseller, Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman, world-famous psychologist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. The impact of overconfidence on corporate strategies, the difficulties of predicting what will make us happy in the future, the profound effect of cognitive biases on everything from playing the stock market to planning our next vacation―each of these can be understood only by knowing how the two systems shape our judgments and decisions.

Engaging the reader in a lively conversation about how we think, Kahneman reveals where we can and cannot trust our intuitions and how we can tap into the benefits of slow thinking. He offers practical and enlightening insights into how choices are made in both our business and our personal lives―and how we can use different techniques to guard against the mental glitches that often get us into trouble. Topping bestseller lists for almost ten years, Thinking, Fast and Slow is a contemporary classic, an essential book that has changed the lives of millions of readers.

If understanding the fundamentals of human behavior with regard to decision making interests you, this is a must read. It is a book which will help you grasp an understanding of why certain illogical aspects of the world work the way they do, and why the vast majority of people act the way they do.