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A review by thejoyofbooking
Too Much Information: Understanding What You Don't Want to Know by Cass R. Sunstein
4.0
This is an academic overview of few narrow domains related to information access and information sharing. I doubt I had ever previously given any in-depth thought to the topic, but if asked I probably would have come down on the side of "right to know" - that individuals should be given as much information as possible in order to help them make decisions. The author does a great job of delineating the ways that more information may in fact be less helpful - particularly when it is likely to be unused even when provided, or when receiving it diminishes well-being (he shares an anecdote early on about having "ruined the popcorn" by being part of the team responsible for mandating calorie disclosures on restaurant and movie theater menus).
The book shines most during its analysis of HOW information should be provided. A key example is the redesign of the Food Pyramid from the 80s/90s actual pyramid illustrated to an almost incomprehensible design in 2005, before being replaced by My Plate. in 2011. Or the fact that when calories are presented to the left of the image of the food, that information leads to healthier choices, but doesn't have the same effect when presented to the right of an image (at least in languages that are read left-to-right; a study was replicated in Hebrew which is read right to left to find that the reverse is true, so it does seem as if encountering calorie info before imagery is more helpful).
In some places, the book becomes more dense than a popularly accessible nonfiction text generally does, but overall there's a lot to enjoy in this fairly short read.
The book shines most during its analysis of HOW information should be provided. A key example is the redesign of the Food Pyramid from the 80s/90s actual pyramid illustrated to an almost incomprehensible design in 2005, before being replaced by My Plate. in 2011. Or the fact that when calories are presented to the left of the image of the food, that information leads to healthier choices, but doesn't have the same effect when presented to the right of an image (at least in languages that are read left-to-right; a study was replicated in Hebrew which is read right to left to find that the reverse is true, so it does seem as if encountering calorie info before imagery is more helpful).
In some places, the book becomes more dense than a popularly accessible nonfiction text generally does, but overall there's a lot to enjoy in this fairly short read.