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frootjoos's review against another edition
5.0
I'm glad I read this before we decided to buy a couch. After some deliberation, Jason and I were pretty good at listening to our emotional responses to the couches we saw last weekend, which was "eh." Apparently this was the proper decision-making procedure. Sweet!
I definitely recommend this book to people who are new to nonfiction, or consider themselves poor processors of non-fictional information. The audience for this book is certainly not the Ph.D. in neuroscience, but rather the "man on the street" who may have never before given thought to the way he thinks when he's making a choice.
I definitely recommend this book to people who are new to nonfiction, or consider themselves poor processors of non-fictional information. The audience for this book is certainly not the Ph.D. in neuroscience, but rather the "man on the street" who may have never before given thought to the way he thinks when he's making a choice.
anetq's review against another edition
5.0
Best book I've ever read on decision making (and your brains workings in trying to do it)
shawnwhy's review against another edition
4.0
I think this is really good, it DOEs look like he took alot of recent studies of neural sciences from major writings and combined them into good prose. alot of Ramachandren, Tversky/Khannamen, Ariely, soem of them actually does seem abit cut and pasted. Still.. the simple act of putting the pieces together for them to resonate together is a good presentation, I really like the idea of how Dopamine, does like sensor that permeates through out one's body and detect holistic situations are are either enjoyable or painful. and maybe when we have a six sense about a situation, its a dopamine recall. also, his discription of duality of emotional intellegence and rational intellegence is entertaining to read.
furtivespy's review against another edition
4.0
fun little pop-sci peek into what we know about the human brain making decisions. It was filled with stories and examples that showcased the different aspects of decision making.
heather01602to60660's review against another edition
4.0
How many decisions do you make a day? Do you ever stop and think about HOW you made them? Even if you try, you probably can't accurately figure it out much of the time - but thanks to brain imaging, advancing science, and curious scientists, we're starting to find out more about how it all comes together. Lest it sound like a dry book of case studies or brain anatomy, fret not - Jonah Lehrer balances the personal experiences of people in decision-making scenarios (from pro athletes to pilots losing all ability to control their planes) with the scientific info in a way that I found totally readable.
Funny story - while reading this book one morning before work, my boss asked what I was reading. I showed her the title and she asked if it was something I was interested in. I had to laugh because I could only admit that I had no idea what drove me to pick up the book! Perhaps I just was craving ice cream when I saw it on the "new books" shelf at the library, perhaps part of my brain I wasn't concious of was reminding me just how many big decisions and changes are coming in my life this year, perhaps it was just a fluke. Nope, not a topic I have ever given much thought, but this book really was fascinating.
Funny story - while reading this book one morning before work, my boss asked what I was reading. I showed her the title and she asked if it was something I was interested in. I had to laugh because I could only admit that I had no idea what drove me to pick up the book! Perhaps I just was craving ice cream when I saw it on the "new books" shelf at the library, perhaps part of my brain I wasn't concious of was reminding me just how many big decisions and changes are coming in my life this year, perhaps it was just a fluke. Nope, not a topic I have ever given much thought, but this book really was fascinating.
jill's review against another edition
3.0
Three and a half stars (why won't you let me give half-stars, Goodreads?). Lehrer's book was more engaging and less heavily neurobiological in focus than "Welcome to your child's brain," but I saw many of these concepts (and some of the same examples) in Strategy class at business school, so it felt a bit like rehashing.
ptaradactyl's review against another edition
5.0
Really interesting book-It was a combo of neuroscience and behavior and philosophy.
I've always had some dissonance around the idea of people being rational in decisions, which is part of what makes me enjoy the current trend of books in behavioral economics. Lehrer dives deeper and talks about the activity in our brains that's going on while we make those decisions.
I do have to say it was a touch macho. The examples were all planes and football and (gag) the world series of poker. They were very effective illustrations, but would have enjoyed something a bit more universal than pro sports and one quick side note about an operatic soprano. I would have been missing the forest for the trees if that ruined the book, though.
I've always had some dissonance around the idea of people being rational in decisions, which is part of what makes me enjoy the current trend of books in behavioral economics. Lehrer dives deeper and talks about the activity in our brains that's going on while we make those decisions.
I do have to say it was a touch macho. The examples were all planes and football and (gag) the world series of poker. They were very effective illustrations, but would have enjoyed something a bit more universal than pro sports and one quick side note about an operatic soprano. I would have been missing the forest for the trees if that ruined the book, though.
kwugirl's review against another edition
5.0
This was an excellent, accessible popular science book where the author actually knows what he's talking about (Tara Parker-Pope's For Better, I'm looking at you). The progression of the book made sense, examining the strengths and weaknesses of emotional and rational decision-making each in turn. The different points were illustrated with several real-world examples and tied to research studies, and the conclusions at the end were presented in a useful manner.
It's basically this kind of stuff that made me interested in psychology and neuroscience in the first place in school, in terms of trying to figure out why other people do what they do, since that often mystifies me from the outside. Of course, I eventually realized that I was utterly bored by actually having do the research that is summarized in a sentence or two here, and instead, I just liked learning about the conclusions and trying to apply them to real life.
If you enjoy thinking about thinking, you should read this book. I wish that managers would read more of this kind of book rather than the typical business books.
It's basically this kind of stuff that made me interested in psychology and neuroscience in the first place in school, in terms of trying to figure out why other people do what they do, since that often mystifies me from the outside. Of course, I eventually realized that I was utterly bored by actually having do the research that is summarized in a sentence or two here, and instead, I just liked learning about the conclusions and trying to apply them to real life.
If you enjoy thinking about thinking, you should read this book. I wish that managers would read more of this kind of book rather than the typical business books.