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rgmattson's review against another edition
4.0
Jonah Lehrer is no slouch when it comes to providing an engaging narrative through a complicated subject. The only reason I delayed in getting into, and then finishing, this book was due to my own poor decision making -- too many assumptions, too much emotion, not enough rational analysis. But I think I've retrained my brain enough to help make a better decision next time.
themorrigan333's review against another edition
5.0
Amazing book! Makes you realize "Aha! so that's why we act like that" or "For real, our brain is responsible for that?!?". For sure needs to be read more than once.
liketheday's review against another edition
3.0
The topic is good. How do people make decisions? What parts of our brains do the heavy lifting? Why do people sometimes make really bad decisions, like buying crappy jam (no, really)? But there are only so many times I can hear the phrase "pre-frontal cortex" or the words "rational" and "emotional" before I start to go a little crazy!
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hopecaldwell's review against another edition
2.0
Somewhat interesting, but seemed like this could have been an article that was stretched into a book.
cmcarr's review against another edition
2.0
This book was okay. There are some entertaining stories and social science studies, like all of these types of books. But this one claimed it would get more into the science of the brain and decision making. It was a good effort, but I in the end I don't think that the author's advice on decision making is very helpful. I had a tough time deciding whether to give this a 3 star or a 2. As such, I went 2.
susannnochka's review against another edition
2.0
I admit that I skimmed the heck out of this book. Too many football analogies. Too simplistic. Kinda crummy writing-- and too pop-psychy for me. (OMG, Harry Harlow! Baby monkeys! Guess what I just learned!)
But I gave it two stars, because I always like to read about the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala...
But I gave it two stars, because I always like to read about the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala...
jrobles76's review against another edition
5.0
Learned a great bit about myself, and why Vince Young hasn't done well in the pros. If you want to know why people make the decisions they do, this is the book for you. Doesn't rely only on Psychology, but relies on neuroscience. Lots of references to fMRI machines. Wish I could get me one of those. :^)
secreteeyore's review against another edition
4.0
This is an intriguing book about the workings of the prefrontal cortex and other parts of the brain, weighing rationality and emotion. Lots of good examples included.
trevan's review against another edition
4.0
An intriguing read, How We Decide delves into the inner workings of the human brain to reveal the reasoning behind the choices we make. I had envisioned this book to be more business related and specific to professional "decisions", but it's far from that. Lehrer tells many interesting stories of people making split decisions in the face of death, and poses many hypothetical questions about situations where the rational brain would decide one thing but the emotional brain would choose another.
The main thing I gathered from the book as a whole is that, when faced with any decision, we must first think how to think. After we decide which mode of thinking is best for the given decision, then we act. There are essentially only two decisions to make when thinking how to think: rational or emotional. Rational decisions generally should be made when weighing the positives/negatives on a small scale where are less than 4 or 5 choices (like buying a kitchen can opener). Emotional decisions should be made when there are many options (like buying a car). This is known as "listening to your gut" and was profound to me to find out how much our brain essentially knows about decisions that we don't realize because we're overshadowing our emotional "gut instinct" with emotions.
Definitely an interesting read, but sometimes a bit bland due to the amount of pure data and research. You'll get to be familiar with the prefrontal cortex area of the brain, that's for sure...
The main thing I gathered from the book as a whole is that, when faced with any decision, we must first think how to think. After we decide which mode of thinking is best for the given decision, then we act. There are essentially only two decisions to make when thinking how to think: rational or emotional. Rational decisions generally should be made when weighing the positives/negatives on a small scale where are less than 4 or 5 choices (like buying a kitchen can opener). Emotional decisions should be made when there are many options (like buying a car). This is known as "listening to your gut" and was profound to me to find out how much our brain essentially knows about decisions that we don't realize because we're overshadowing our emotional "gut instinct" with emotions.
Definitely an interesting read, but sometimes a bit bland due to the amount of pure data and research. You'll get to be familiar with the prefrontal cortex area of the brain, that's for sure...