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esquetee's review against another edition
4.0
Listened to the audiobook while handbasting a quilt, and managed to finish the book in 3 days (!). Interesting meditation on the differences between narrow band vs. full spectrum decisions. Gave me a lot to think about from the institutional perspective of where my library is going, but perhaps less resonant on a personal level.
katemilty's review against another edition
3.0
Quick read — writing this review 2 months later, I recall very little about it.. I believe a lot of the content was intuitive, so I recall being disappointed.
Ah yes, two ways to get better at making decisions:
- Studying military decision-making & strategy
- Reading novels to explore life choices & build empathy
I recall the military strategy sections as interesting and useful (in certain decision-making scenarios); however, I do not recall the specifics. I'm sure reading a quick review would remind me.
His thoughts on novels & stories as a way to explore decision-making were intuitive sensible to the point that I felt he spent too much time talking about them. Perhaps this is because I have read so many novels, so I long ago realized this particular insight.
Ah yes, two ways to get better at making decisions:
- Studying military decision-making & strategy
- Reading novels to explore life choices & build empathy
I recall the military strategy sections as interesting and useful (in certain decision-making scenarios); however, I do not recall the specifics. I'm sure reading a quick review would remind me.
His thoughts on novels & stories as a way to explore decision-making were intuitive sensible to the point that I felt he spent too much time talking about them. Perhaps this is because I have read so many novels, so I long ago realized this particular insight.
ghost_name's review against another edition
2.0
It diffently had its boring moments. It labored on many points that I didn't find the least bit interesting, but I was able to extract meaningful tips that I think will work best for me. I was intimidated at first as I skimmed through. I'm glad I powered through. It left me with a few ideas to think about.
halfmanhalfbook's review
3.0
Life is full of decisions; they can be a low impact as to what to eat, which route to take around a town or whether to buy a particular book or not. Other decisions have a much greater impact on our lives, the partner that you want to spend more time within the long term, the place that you choose to live or the path that you take in a career.
We are supposedly living in the age of the shortest attention span, not even being able to read the 280 characters from a tweet before the next notification attracts our attention. Other books have been written on the best way to make that instant decision when presented with the scantest of facts. But in this book Johnson wants us to change the way that we make decisions using a more deliberative decision-making approach.
Mapping
Predicting
Deciding
He argues that this multi-dimension way of thinking about all the factors in a decision helps us make a better decision. He uses various real-life cases to explain the show the methodology behind it, including influence diagrams for the mapping stage to comprehend all of the factors about making a decision.
People who have deemed themselves super-forecasters have been shown to be no better than a primate with a dartboard when their predictions are assessed against their results and in predicting he explains the methods of ensuring that the decision is correct by contemplating all manner of possibilities.
The end result of that is then having to make a decision based on all the information provided. Not easy for very complex problems, but the tools like cost-benefit analysis and weighting assist with this part of the process.
You’d like to think that we as a species would be a better place to do this, but sadly we’re not. Vested interests often ensure that the decision process is skewed or flawed from the very beginning. Also having more diverse teams selected from people with a variety of experience and knowledge and give them the tools to challenge conventional thoughts will produce much better results than similar minded people.
I hadn’t read much about the Bin Laden takedown, so it was fascinating to read the level and layers of detail that went into the investigation of the site he was staying at and the suite of methods that they had at their disposal to accomplish the mission. In theory, then you will have come to a better decision if you follow these principles. Organisations with red teams provide the proverbial spanner in the works, also improve this by testing the resilience of the decisions that are being made. The bottom line is though that people make better decisions by planning in much more detail. Not just what you are intending to do, but the various possibilities could be and what the short and long term implications are.
I thought that it was an interesting book about a subject that we seem the fallout and failure from every day. I would have liked to have had more on the Marine Corps Planning Process that is mentioned in the book, and I’ve not read Middlemarch, so some of what he was describing about the fiction of George Elliot, and how it helped with decision making wasn’t relevant to me. However, I don’t think that this is his best work, my favourite of his Everything Bad is Good For You. has a much superior premise and narrative. That said, he is a good writer and I always find his books entertaining and informative and this was no different.
We are supposedly living in the age of the shortest attention span, not even being able to read the 280 characters from a tweet before the next notification attracts our attention. Other books have been written on the best way to make that instant decision when presented with the scantest of facts. But in this book Johnson wants us to change the way that we make decisions using a more deliberative decision-making approach.
Mapping
Predicting
Deciding
He argues that this multi-dimension way of thinking about all the factors in a decision helps us make a better decision. He uses various real-life cases to explain the show the methodology behind it, including influence diagrams for the mapping stage to comprehend all of the factors about making a decision.
People who have deemed themselves super-forecasters have been shown to be no better than a primate with a dartboard when their predictions are assessed against their results and in predicting he explains the methods of ensuring that the decision is correct by contemplating all manner of possibilities.
The end result of that is then having to make a decision based on all the information provided. Not easy for very complex problems, but the tools like cost-benefit analysis and weighting assist with this part of the process.
You’d like to think that we as a species would be a better place to do this, but sadly we’re not. Vested interests often ensure that the decision process is skewed or flawed from the very beginning. Also having more diverse teams selected from people with a variety of experience and knowledge and give them the tools to challenge conventional thoughts will produce much better results than similar minded people.
I hadn’t read much about the Bin Laden takedown, so it was fascinating to read the level and layers of detail that went into the investigation of the site he was staying at and the suite of methods that they had at their disposal to accomplish the mission. In theory, then you will have come to a better decision if you follow these principles. Organisations with red teams provide the proverbial spanner in the works, also improve this by testing the resilience of the decisions that are being made. The bottom line is though that people make better decisions by planning in much more detail. Not just what you are intending to do, but the various possibilities could be and what the short and long term implications are.
I thought that it was an interesting book about a subject that we seem the fallout and failure from every day. I would have liked to have had more on the Marine Corps Planning Process that is mentioned in the book, and I’ve not read Middlemarch, so some of what he was describing about the fiction of George Elliot, and how it helped with decision making wasn’t relevant to me. However, I don’t think that this is his best work, my favourite of his Everything Bad is Good For You. has a much superior premise and narrative. That said, he is a good writer and I always find his books entertaining and informative and this was no different.
canadianbookworm's review against another edition
5.0
https://cdnbookworm.blogspot.com/2019/03/farsighted.html
wilte's review against another edition
One increasingly popular method used for predicting the future is using red teams.
A red team is a group that is created within an organization. The team acts as though it were the ‘enemy’ when the larger organization is in the process of making strategic decisions.
Making decisions is never easy, and even math can't always get you to the finish line. But if you do a few sums and take the time to mull the variables and outcomes over, you’ll be well on your way to making a sound and informed decision.
Decision-making is difficult for each and every one of us. That’s because humans have a hard time predicting what the future outcome of any given decision will be and whether we will be happy with that outcome. That’s why it’s important to take the time to make decisions. Both the traditional approach of just chewing things over or a more technical and mathematical approach of mapping out all options and variables can be useful.
Actionable advice:
Build diverse teams.
As you’ve seen in these blinks, the more diverse a group is, the better decisions they make. So the next time you’re putting together, say, a project team, make a conscious effort to include people with diverse backgrounds. The added breadth of experience will help the group make more representative decisions, thereby producing better results.
A red team is a group that is created within an organization. The team acts as though it were the ‘enemy’ when the larger organization is in the process of making strategic decisions.
Making decisions is never easy, and even math can't always get you to the finish line. But if you do a few sums and take the time to mull the variables and outcomes over, you’ll be well on your way to making a sound and informed decision.
Decision-making is difficult for each and every one of us. That’s because humans have a hard time predicting what the future outcome of any given decision will be and whether we will be happy with that outcome. That’s why it’s important to take the time to make decisions. Both the traditional approach of just chewing things over or a more technical and mathematical approach of mapping out all options and variables can be useful.
Actionable advice:
Build diverse teams.
As you’ve seen in these blinks, the more diverse a group is, the better decisions they make. So the next time you’re putting together, say, a project team, make a conscious effort to include people with diverse backgrounds. The added breadth of experience will help the group make more representative decisions, thereby producing better results.
pbokelly's review against another edition
4.0
A few resources to consider:
Author book overview and article adaptations:
https://stevenberlinjohnson.com/farsighted-how-we-make-the-decisions-that-matter-the-most-2c05b397aa18
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/01/opinion/sunday/how-make-big-decision.html
https://medium.com/s/story/farsighted-decision-making-should-be-a-required-course-in-every-high-school-6b5a836c1e1e
Reviews:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/02/books/review/steven-johnson-farsighted.html
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/steven-johnson/farsighted-johnson/
https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-59448-821-4
https://www.wsj.com/articles/farsighted-review-how-to-make-up-your-mind-1536705001
Author book overview and article adaptations:
https://stevenberlinjohnson.com/farsighted-how-we-make-the-decisions-that-matter-the-most-2c05b397aa18
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/01/opinion/sunday/how-make-big-decision.html
https://medium.com/s/story/farsighted-decision-making-should-be-a-required-course-in-every-high-school-6b5a836c1e1e
Reviews:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/02/books/review/steven-johnson-farsighted.html
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/steven-johnson/farsighted-johnson/
https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-59448-821-4
https://www.wsj.com/articles/farsighted-review-how-to-make-up-your-mind-1536705001