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A review by bookbowlchallenge
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
2.0
Thinking Fast and Slow was an exercise in patience, and lots of it. The book gets off to a promising start, with Kahneman describing his research partner soulmate and the amazing work they did together.
It falls apart quickly, however when you get into the meat of the book.
Unfortunately, most of the novel is a collage of other psychologists work which Kahneman cuts and pastes to fit his 'two systems of thinking' narrative. It often feels disjointed and forced. The organization and structure of the novel is non-existent. Kahneman will often drone on and on about a point, and just when you think he's wrapped it up, it becomes the subject of a chapter 50 pages later.
His writing style is incredibly condescending and patronizing. While I typically appreciate a non-fiction book offering ample layman's terms, Kahneman over does it, and completely loses his critical thinking readers. He offers the exact survey questions that the researchers he cites uses, and assumes that his reader will answer in the same way that the original research determined was most probable.
Cutting through the infuriating writing style, I did find some intrigue in the content. The sections on anchoring, availability, and substitution were particularly interesting. I wish I had first come across these terms written by a different author.
There are some good lessons to be learned in the content. I wish everyone in the world could have a better grasp on statistical fallacies, problematic biases, and issues with sample size in research. But, while those topics are covered in the book, they are covered poorly.
If psychology and statistics are of particular interest to you, my recommendation would be to read the introduction, skim the chapters to pick out the bullet points, then read the conclusion. Save yourself 500 pages of tiresome, tedious, and infuriating writing to come away with a handful of interesting things to ponder.
2/5
It falls apart quickly, however when you get into the meat of the book.
Unfortunately, most of the novel is a collage of other psychologists work which Kahneman cuts and pastes to fit his 'two systems of thinking' narrative. It often feels disjointed and forced. The organization and structure of the novel is non-existent. Kahneman will often drone on and on about a point, and just when you think he's wrapped it up, it becomes the subject of a chapter 50 pages later.
His writing style is incredibly condescending and patronizing. While I typically appreciate a non-fiction book offering ample layman's terms, Kahneman over does it, and completely loses his critical thinking readers. He offers the exact survey questions that the researchers he cites uses, and assumes that his reader will answer in the same way that the original research determined was most probable.
Cutting through the infuriating writing style, I did find some intrigue in the content. The sections on anchoring, availability, and substitution were particularly interesting. I wish I had first come across these terms written by a different author.
There are some good lessons to be learned in the content. I wish everyone in the world could have a better grasp on statistical fallacies, problematic biases, and issues with sample size in research. But, while those topics are covered in the book, they are covered poorly.
If psychology and statistics are of particular interest to you, my recommendation would be to read the introduction, skim the chapters to pick out the bullet points, then read the conclusion. Save yourself 500 pages of tiresome, tedious, and infuriating writing to come away with a handful of interesting things to ponder.
2/5