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A review by spamrisk
Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely
3.0
I really liked reading this book. A lot. In fact, I read it pretty quickly considering my lackadaisical book reading ethic. That being said, this book is not without its flaws.
Dan Ariely is a nerd. It just sounds like it. He writes like a nerd. The language isn't particularly engaging or humorous. It felt a little contrived, as if Ariely didn't know who his audience was (and I'm not sure I know either). Thankfully Ariely has some great content and experiments under his belt to pad out this book.
This book came to my attention after reading Freakonomics. I consider this to book to be in the same vein. Ariely wants to blow our minds (and he does sound like a nerd saying "come on guys, you'll never believe this!" before explaining the results of his experiments). Some of the stuff is really interesting and mind blowing (e.g., the chapter about price anchoring). Other stuff is, well, pretty intuitive (i.e., people will cheat more if they don't have the option of getting caught!).
Additionally, the book comes off a little preachy. At the end of every chapter following the experiments' results, there's usually a piece about some sort of social policy we could employ. Granted, I did enjoy the take home message of how we can't really trust all of our decisions, but I do not believe the answer is paternalism. It does, however, appropriately address the need for updating economic models.
Ariely wrote a book with a great message (we might not always know why we make the decisions we do, and when we do, those reasons might not always be rational or right) but with a flawed execution. I can't recommend it wholeheartedly, but if you're coming down from a Freakonomics high, this is well worth it.
Dan Ariely is a nerd. It just sounds like it. He writes like a nerd. The language isn't particularly engaging or humorous. It felt a little contrived, as if Ariely didn't know who his audience was (and I'm not sure I know either). Thankfully Ariely has some great content and experiments under his belt to pad out this book.
This book came to my attention after reading Freakonomics. I consider this to book to be in the same vein. Ariely wants to blow our minds (and he does sound like a nerd saying "come on guys, you'll never believe this!" before explaining the results of his experiments). Some of the stuff is really interesting and mind blowing (e.g., the chapter about price anchoring). Other stuff is, well, pretty intuitive (i.e., people will cheat more if they don't have the option of getting caught!).
Additionally, the book comes off a little preachy. At the end of every chapter following the experiments' results, there's usually a piece about some sort of social policy we could employ. Granted, I did enjoy the take home message of how we can't really trust all of our decisions, but I do not believe the answer is paternalism. It does, however, appropriately address the need for updating economic models.
Ariely wrote a book with a great message (we might not always know why we make the decisions we do, and when we do, those reasons might not always be rational or right) but with a flawed execution. I can't recommend it wholeheartedly, but if you're coming down from a Freakonomics high, this is well worth it.