|  | | | Customer Reviews: | | | Average Customer Review:
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
 Buy It, Read It, Loan It To A Friend...Terrific! Nov 15, 2009
I liked this book. No, scratch that. I love this book; it is exceptional in so many ways, but I will pick just two for brevities sake.
First, Dan Ariely is an original. He is the James B. Duke Professor of Behavioral Economics at Duke University (where else!?!). He is an excellent writer and unlike so many pop-psychology, pop-economics, pop-science or pop-(insert your favorite subject) writers that promises to explain some aspect of human nature, this book actually does. Arily does so by giving the reader NEW MATERIAL. By this I mean that Professor Ariely actually formulates designs, implements and evaluates his own experiments (of course, he does have collaborators) - he doesn't just rehash all the old popular ones (I, for one, am tired of reading trite reflections about Zimbardo's Prisoner experiment at Stanford, Stan Milgram's electric shock/ obedience to authority experiments, Skinner's boxes and Pavlov's dogs). Nevertheless, I am certain that Professor Ariely is someone we will be hearing more from in the future.
As to the book, Ariely's main point is that, "For a long time, economists have maintained that human behavior and the functioning of our institutions are best described by the rational economic model, which basically holds that man is self-interested, calculating, and able to perfectly weigh the costs and benefits in every decision in order to optimize the outcome." The entire book is a refutation of this view. This brings me to the second reason I believe this book is exceptional: Finally!!!, a well researched, well documented and thoroughly reliable explanation of "corporate brainwashing." Now I know this sounds a little bit nutty or "fringe-ish," but the premise actually ties in very neatly with books like: The Gaslight Effect: How to Spot and Survive the Hidden Manipulation Others Use to Control Your Life, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (Collins Business Essentials), No Logo: No Space, No Choice, No Jobs, The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power, When Corporations Rule the World and Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America, to name just a handful. Essentially, Ariely has documented just a few of the ways in which people are manipulated, exploited, brainwashed, tricked, deceived, (pick your own favorite term) into purchasing things they don't need and then punishing them when they can't pay...I could really belabor this point, but I will move on because I don't want to give the impression that this book is some kind of liberal screed against corporation - it isn't. The book isn't even solely about buying stuff; there is a lot of very useful information about everyday interpersonal relationships too (why it's better to give gifts than money or gift cards, what kind of conditions generally cause people to cheat, how can we avoid procrastinating, why you should befriend a slightly uglier version of yourself, why Starbucks reframed the way we look at coffee, how to figure out how much a mortgage payment should be and other really neat stuff). There are so many interesting experiments and conclusions in this book that I really can't begin to paraphrase them here.
Why you finish reading the book (because I know you will) it may lead you to others. Here are some books that I thought were related in nature, but not nearly equally as good as Predictably Irrational: Why We Make Mistakes: How We Look Without Seeing, Forget Things in Seconds, and Are All Pretty Sure We Are Way Above Average, The Mind of the Market: How Biology and Psychology Shape Our Economic Lives, Why Choose This Book?: How We Make Decisions, The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom and Everyday Survival: Why Smart People Do Stupid Things. To add one more quote, "One of my colleagues at Duke University, Ralph Keeney, recently noted that America's top killer isn't cancer or heart disease, nor is it smoking or obesity. It's our inability to make smart choices and overcome our own self-destructive behaviors." So lastly, as an antidote to this irrational thinking, I have included three books that might help you start thinking just a tad more rationally: Living within Limits: Ecology, Economics, and Population Taboos by Garrett Hardin, A Guide to Rational Living by Albert Ellis and The Road Less Traveled, 25th Anniversary Edition : A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth by M. Scott Peck.
As a final word, this is an immensely helpful (and I think will prove immensely influential) book in so many ways. It is an essential; I recommend it highly. "...wouldn't it make sense to modify standard economics, to move it away from naive psychology (which often fails the tests of reason, introspection, and - most important - empirical scrutiny)? This is exactly what the emerging field of behavioral economics, and this book as a small part of that enterprise, is trying to accomplish."
 ok but the description was not accurate Nov 10, 2009
The book was described as very good, but there is a huge water mark on both the book cover and the inside pages. I wouldn't call it a "very good" condition.
Entertaining, applicable Nov 10, 2009
This book is not only a great intro to behavior economics but lends insights directly actionable in one's life. From recognizing and managing one's own irrational foibles to fine tuning one's product line to implimenting an honor code or managing relationships, this book is a treasure trove. A joy to read as well!
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 Good science interrupted by unsubstantiated opinion Nov 03, 2009
I was very frustrated with this book. On the one hand, the author clearly synopsizes a great deal of substantive research on why we do the things that we do. His discussions of the different cognitive biases are clearly explained and well supported by research (some his own). As the title suggests, humans are not perfectly rational creatures but we do behave in consistent and generally predictable ways. The material in this book can help us to understanding the why behind our thoughts.
The concept of behavioral economics is not as new or radical as the author implies (the Freakonomics books are another recent example) but this is an excellent overview of several decades worth of material. And I must admit to being very impressed by the scope of the work. Any chapter could have been expanded into a separate book. Ariely covers a lot of ground while still providing enough substance to be useful and informative.
Even better, the writing style is very approachable. It felt more like a conversation than a textbook. I'd already read many of the original studies that he references. This is by far the most readable version I've found.
My frustration seemed to come at the end of every chapter when the author leapt from a clear and research-based presentation of facts to an unsubstantiated conclusion. For example, in one chapter he spent pages discussing the imperfections of the market and why they can not make perfect choices. He makes a clear case that markets are really collections of people and may be unduly influenced by subtle human factors. Then on the last page he concludes that government would therefore do it better. His conclusion completely ignores the cognitive biases and unconscious influencers on the humans who make up the government.
In another example, he talks about sampling grapes at the grocery store in a discussion of honesty and the non-rationality of our thinking. His example overlooks the inherent information imbalance between the seller and buyer. Unlike homogeneous products like potatoes, grapes can be either very sweet or very sour. Nor can the buyer use physical inspection as a proxy for ripeness. Melons can be thumped and tomatoes checked for color but grapes are an enigma - they look and feel the same whether sweet or sour. Rational buyers know they can redress the information imbalance with a small sample. Without that assurance, they must discount the price they are willing to pay as a hedge against the chance that they'll get a sour batch. Rational sellers know that by allowing the sample, they will command higher prices overall. Rational sellers however also have to avoid setting a tone where shoplifting is perceived as acceptable. The balance that a grape is acceptable but a lemon is not is a perfectly rational response to the information imbalance. And buyers know this, too, even if they are unable to articulate it in front of the men with white coats and clipboards. My (somewhat long-winded) point is that grapes at the grocery store fails as an example of "dishonesty". The story is incomplete.
I said earlier that the book was so readable that it was like a conversation. Let me qualify that it was a fairly stormy conversation. I startled my wife several times with outbursts at the unsubstantiated conclusions and fuzzy thinking on the part of the author. At one point I even threw the book across the room in frustration with the author. On the other hand, I finished the book - and now that I think about it, I finished it at 2 or 3 in the morning despite needing to be up early the next morning for a meeting. It certainly gets full points as thought-provoking and engaging reading. The book will load you up with lots of entertaining tidbits for dinner party conversation but read it with a healthy dose of skepticism and make your own conclusions about how to apply the research.
Definitely read this if you want to have the lates info on personality Oct 25, 2009
I love this book. As a marketing professional and enthusiast for psychology and sociology. There are many great insights and studies in this book. So glad I read it.
|
| |
|
![Up (4 Disc Combo Pack with Digital Copy and DVD) [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51V%2Beipy8-L._SL75_.jpg "Up (4 Disc Combo Pack with Digital Copy and DVD) [Blu-ray]")
![Across the Universe [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51T24FuHPEL._SL75_.jpg "Across the Universe [Blu-ray]")
![Underworld Trilogy (Underworld / Underworld: Evolution / Underworld: Rise of the Lycans) [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51F27VzUl%2BL._SL75_.jpg "Underworld Trilogy (Underworld / Underworld: Evolution / Underworld: Rise of the Lycans) [Blu-ray]")
![Shakira: Oral Fixation Tour [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51RQUEopdlL._SL75_.jpg "Shakira: Oral Fixation Tour [Blu-ray]")
