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Predictably Irrational by: Dan Ariely List Price: CDN$ 27.95 City Travel Guides Price: CDN$ 17.61 You Save: CDN$10.34 (37%)Prices subject to change. |
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Binding: Hardcover Dewey Decimal Number: 153.83 EAN: 9780061353239 ISBN: 006135323X Label: Harper Manufacturer: Harper Number Of Pages: 304 Publication Date: February 07, 2008 Publisher: Harper Release Date: February 19, 2008 Studio: Harper Sales Rank: 291 Related Items:
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 Rating:  - Reality is absolutely relative.At first glance, the title of Dan Ariely's book seems to be an oxymoron. (It certainly catches one's attention.) Can irrational thought and/or behavior be predicted? Perhaps if it is repetitive? (The judgment and behavior of at least some people can be repetitive and thus predictable.) So I began to read his book with curiosity but also, yes, with some skepticism. Here are a few of my reactions. First, he learned a number of "lessons" from what he calls "experiments" in his life, each of which struck him as being counterintuitive. For example, everything is relative...even when "it shouldn't be"...or in fact isn't. That is, our mind can "play tricks" on us and thus we tend to see what we expect to see, hear what we expect to hear, ... Read More: Rating:  - People Are Predictably Interested In More Than MoneyOnly a professor of behavioral economics would conclude that when people respond to motives other than money they are being predictably irrational. If you want to see some clever experiments that demonstrate that people are interested in things other than money, read this book. I would like to observe, however, that such experiments have to be taken with a grain of salt when people know that they are experiments or reflect unexpected questions rather than serious looks at on-going behavior in areas where people have a lot of experience. For instance, the book looks at whether and at what price Duke students will sell basketball tickets they have just put a lot of effort into getting. Clearly, there are factors other than profit that ... Read More: Rating: - Excellent book - controversial, but well foundedPredictable Irrational is probably one of the most remarkable books after Freakonomics. This is a book about the paradoxes of human judgment. All people, regardless who they are, country they live in, jobs they have, or language they speak, make standard mistakes because our brains work in certain ways. Predictable Irrational is not the first book about such phenomena. My other favorite books on this subject include The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz and Gut Feelings: The Intelligence of the Unconscious by Gerd Gigerenzer. Similar ideas are discussed in number of industry specific books, such as the project management book Project Decisions: The Art and Science. What distinguishes Predictable Irrational from the rest is very interesting ... Read More: |
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