Title: Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions
Author: Dan Ariely
Genre: Popular Science
Pages (words): 384 (N/A)
Readability: N/A
Rating (out of 5 stars): ****1/2
Reviewed by: Ben
Description: Dan Ariely is a professor of economics at Duke University, and has studied behavioral economics for his whole career. This book is his attempt at writing up his findings for a non-academic audience, showing us all of the mistakes that we commit when making common, everyday decisions. He covers topics including: over-valuing ownership, the price of zero, placebo effects, lying, and loyalty. The book is full of novel experiments, and descriptions of what their findings mean for each of us.
Thoughts: I HAD to tell Jenn about every chapter that I read in this book. It was seriously astounding how good it was! I was afraid when I started the book that it would be full of things that I already knew, but in fact most of the findings he discussed I was unfamiliar with, and I thoroughly enjoyed each chapter. Ariely is a really entertaining writer, and anyone could easily understand Predictably Irrational. What I liked most about the book was the way that each section was completely applicable to my own life; it's all about decisions that we make daily. Highly recommended.
Disclaimer: Chapter 5 (I think) is about decision making under sexual arousal. If you're uncomfortable with that, you could easily skip this chapter.
