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luluwoohoo's review
challenging
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer
☀️☀️☀️☀️
▪️An insightful, thought-provoking (ha) book that breaks down our brain's decision making processes
▪️Lehrer walks a skillful tightrope between entertaining side stories and the scientific research that defines their relevance, choosing a variety of topics that best exhibit the intricate nature of our very complex brain
▪️The details of our warring rational and emotional sides was given via balanced observations, showing the strengths and weaknesses of relying too heavily on one side. The takeaway from this research is obvious: we must use both effectively in conjunction with each other
▪️The recommendations on handling different scales or levels of choice, from buying jam to a brand new car, goes against all instinct but is, according to the research, backed up by science
▪️I found this to be a quick, fulfilling and intelligent read that has made me think about thinking more than I think I have before!
☀️☀️☀️☀️
▪️An insightful, thought-provoking (ha) book that breaks down our brain's decision making processes
▪️Lehrer walks a skillful tightrope between entertaining side stories and the scientific research that defines their relevance, choosing a variety of topics that best exhibit the intricate nature of our very complex brain
▪️The details of our warring rational and emotional sides was given via balanced observations, showing the strengths and weaknesses of relying too heavily on one side. The takeaway from this research is obvious: we must use both effectively in conjunction with each other
▪️The recommendations on handling different scales or levels of choice, from buying jam to a brand new car, goes against all instinct but is, according to the research, backed up by science
▪️I found this to be a quick, fulfilling and intelligent read that has made me think about thinking more than I think I have before!
"When evolution was building the brain, it didn't bother to replace all of those emotional processes with new operations under explicit, conscious control. If something isn't broken, then natural selection isn't going to fix it. The mind is made out of used parts, engineered by a blind watchmaker. The result is that the uniquely human areas of the mind depend on the primitive mind underneath."
"From the perspective of the brain, new ideas are merely several old thoughts that occur at the exact same time."
laughellacci's review
4.0
A light read exploring the intricacies of decision making from choosing jam to surviving a plane crash. An interesting interplay between emotion and logic and how only combining the two gives us good decision making.
caroparr's review
3.0
The take-away message is that emotions can often (though not always) lead you to better decisions than your rational brain can, especially if you're confronted with lots of choices. Books like this (popular science/psychology/sociology) all have the same formula: an anecdote about something that seems ordinary that actually shows scientists a new feature/function of the brain. The formula gets old fast, but the content is good.
reader1147's review
4.0
Really good read for those that like Malcolm Gladwell. Lehrer does a great job of breaking down lots of recent neuroscience research so that us laypeople can get it :) Highly recommend it
sbromley92's review
3.0
When I saw this book at a garage sale for $1, the decision to buy it was a no-brainer. The synopsis of the book seemed interesting and I was hoping to get some help in making decisions in my life. I struggle with making decisions... A LOT. In fact, I think this fault can be crippling at times. So I finally got around to deciding to read the book (after narrowing down the choices to 5 books and picking this one based solely on the fact that again, I was struggling to make a decision with something). I almost abandoned it after only reading one chapter, when I learned that the author, Jonah Lehrer, had some plagiarism issues with a book about creativity that he wrote last year. The only reason I kept going was that I was sucked in from the first chapter of this book and this book is not reported to have any plagiarism issues that I am aware of. Now that I have read it, I'm still not sure that it has actually helped me to become better at making decisions, but it was definitely an entertaining, interesting read. I am fascinated by the personal stories, particularly the one of the pilot that lost all hydraulics on a flight from Denver to Chicago in 1989. Edge-of-your-seat reading. The other personal stories were really fascinating, too. Overall, a very good read.
mokey81's review
4.0
This was an incredibly interesting book. And it was completely accessible. I loved learning more about how my brain works when it comes to make decisions and sticky situations. Very, very good read.
kwbat12's review against another edition
3.0
I'm on this kick about the brain and its influences throughout daily life, and I found this book quite interesting. It gave some analysis about thoughts and feelings, the cognition and the emotion behind decision making. There were some interesting studies in place with logic that made sense to me. Though, when I began reading Blink, I felt like I was reading a similar book that was better written and researched. Of course, I looked around online and found that this book was being pulled due to faulty scholarship, and my thoughts made sense. I did enjoy this audiobook, but perhaps Blink would be a better choice.
elisabeth1st's review
2.0
I wanted this to be more compelling and interesting than I thought it was. It came highly recommended and I was disappointed.
spiderfelt's review
5.0
Jonah Lehrer succeeds in writing an eminently readable book about brain science. Instead of writing a textbook, he has used many interlacing narratives to illustrate the how and why of brain function specifically related to decision-making. I finally understand which decisions should be carefully researched and which decisions are left best to instinct. I will be forever grateful to the years of experience assembled in the cockpit of the airplanes flying our friendly skies today.