Major New York Times bestsellerWinner of the National Academy of Sciences Best Book Award in 2012Selected by the New York Times Book Review as one of the best books of 2011A Globe and Mail Best Books of the Year 2011 TitleOne of The Economist’s 2011 Books of the Year One of The Wall Street Journal’s Best Nonfiction Books of the Year 20112013 Presidential Medal of Freedom RecipientIn the … 2011
2013 Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient
In the international bestseller, Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman, the renowned 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. Winner of the National Academy of Sciences Best Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and selected by The New York Times Book Review as one of the ten best books of 2011, Thinking, Fast and Slow is destined to be a classic.
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The book is about thinking about thinking. It’s the synthesis of the life’s work of Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman, the Nobel-prize winning economists who are responsible for prospect theory, which radically changed how we think about decision-making. It’s a tour de force in the neuropsychological underpinnings of the systematic biases in our thinking and perception, all the while being readable and easily comprehended. It will change the way you think about your own thinking, and other’s.
I think nearly every word out of Danny Kahneman’s mouth should be placed on paper, bound by stiff cardboard, and passed around to everyone who has the ability to process the written word. For those that cannot, there are ample videoed lectures that have captured Dr. Kahneman’s thoughts, studies, and opinions. The point is, he is pure gold.
Thinking, Fast and Slow, is not an entertaining read, it is a necessary study. No one says it should be done all at once, but instead perhaps in bite-sized portions, to chew on and digest, and finally appreciate.
There are plenty of ways to get a solid dose of this brilliant thinker’s observations, but this particular book holds a sacred spot on my shelf of absolute must haves.
A pioneer in the field of behavioral economics and a tremendous contribution to the understanding of how we all behave the way we behave, Potentially huge impact on the science of changing problem behaviors such as substance abuse.
This book could rightfully supercede or replace works that misplace emphasis on outdated notions about how our brains supposedly operate or “how much we use” or the pop Right/Left Brain notions. Even better, it clarifies how each “mode” of thinking has an important function offering optimal results. Although a potentially intricate topic, the material is presented in a comfortable, clear and inspiring manner.
A number of interesting situations, ideas and proven theories about decision making. Behavioral economics at best. There are some chapters that can be little dry or sounds common sense. I’d say the most interesting had been the very last two groups of sections.
Humans often think that they make sense. This book tells us how flawed our thinking may be.
Very well-written book. I’m a social psychologist and a researcher in the areas described. I’ve recommended this book to so many friends, students, and colleagues. The find the book transformative.
Compares two different theories of thinking. Excellent descriptions and examples. You still need to think on your own and apply what works for you and your situation..
Really good info on how to use our brains more effectively by recognizing and harming both ways of thinking so we can use each one when appropriate.
Our sub-conscious mind is always running in the background. This book explains the way our sub-conscious mind influences our conscious decision making process. All assertions are backed up by explanations of the tests designed to evaluate the interactions of what he calls system 1 and system 2. It is dense and interesting. Not a beach read. A read to help understand why we are more freaked out when our 401K goes down in value, than excited when it goes up.
I really don’t know where I should start my review.
This book is really nothing short of an eye opener. I knew only some of what Kahneman presented, for instance the widely known confirmation bias and what it means, but I never expected the larger story this book presents in full breadth and the detail, and the paradigm shift it would cause in my thinking.
Daniel Kaheman’s research is for no small reason rewarded with a Nobel prize — it’s fundamental to anyone looking to understand how humans function. His research, along with basic neuroscience, should really just be thought in school by now. In my opinion this is indispensible knowledge in the digital, fast-paced 21st century we live in.
Reading Kahneman’s analysis after having read a neuroscience book, a light bulb nearly lit up in my head. If you understand the fundamentals of the brain’s neurological functioning, which Kahneman consisely covers too, and then read what he has to say in this book, you will start seeing the unflattering consequences of the rut our digital, hyperconnected, and frenzied world can get us into.
The book is quite long but very informative. The only parts I found a bit tedious and less interesting are the sections on probabilities and risk. But I don’t regret having read it for a second.
Reading this book and with knowledhe from neuroscience, sociology and other fields, I started connecting the dots. in my interpretation this science calls for a fundamental change of behavior for most people living in our frenzied pace of life and our pandemic lack of time. I am deeply grateful to Kahneman for opening my eyes to these connections, which he inspired me to publish in my own book “The Art of Living: Self-Management — How to Survive and Thrive in the 21st Century”
I help teach physics. I try to find ways of making my “teaching” more effective. This book helps. In fact, I suggested it, and it was accepted, as a book for my faculty book club.
Very informative,highly recommended. I have given away several copies of this book to friends in both English and Chinese.
Entertaining and informative, but not an easy read.
Wish I had this a few decades earlier in life, to know that I have some ability after all.
Excellent reference book.
This is on my list of top three books that every homo sapiens should read. It’s a long book but easy enough to read.
Daniel Kahneman takes his 30 years’ experience as (in my and others view) the leading behavioural psychologist of the 20th century and distills his wisdom into a single book.
Read it and it will change your life and who you are. You’ll never see yourself (or anyone else) the same way again.
One of the most important books to read if you have any interest in how you think and make decisions. An extraordinary look into the process of thought and making decisions on the basis of what you see, think, feel and imagine.
Best *think* I’ve read in years.
There’s a lot to say about the content of this book, but many have already done so… This is a book worth having and reading… several times. But I would like to comment on the “book-making” aspect of this book. The two papers that resulted in the Nobel Prize in Economics for Dr. Kahneman are included in the back of the book — big plus, as I wanted to read the original thoughts prior to starting reading this book. But those papers are printed in 8 point font! I kept looking for “make larger” button on the cover! It was very hard to read. The text was so small that it made eye-tracking from line to line difficult. This is a large book, there was no reason to conserve a few extra paper pages that would have provided for a good experience for its readers. But I would caution anyone away from getting a Kindle version of the book (which does have an option for making the text larger) — the footnotes and illustrations (graphs and tables) would be a nightmare on a digital device.
Expands from “the undoing project” to give a great overview of how everyone makes mistakes in judgements and decisions.