Thinking Fast and Slow

When you look at a cover to a book and it notes the author won a Nobel Prize winner (in Economics), you know you may get a good book.  Ahhh, yes it was.  Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman explores the field of psychology that challenges the rational model of our judgment in decision making.  We learn about the two systems of thinking, System 1 and System 2.  System 1 is fast, how we use our intuition and emotions, while System 2 is slower, logical, deliberate using our past history of experiences along the way.  His in-depth book challenges us to think through our biases in how we approach both the fast and slow thinking options in our daily lives.  How do we contemplate what choices may be right for us long term?  How do we incorporate risk in our decision making?  Which place should we go on vacation?  How should we invest our stocks?  So much of what we decide, from the small decisions to the very large “life” decisions have some new meaning now that we begin to understand how we think at decision-making times.  The book is broken into four sections: the first is an in-depth review, with great examples of the two systems of thinking; the second shares our biases, how things are anchored, the science of availability, how causes trump statistics, intuitive predictions, validity, and the outside view (this was my favorite chapter for putting the two systems of thinking into practice); section three was about how our choices fall, once made; and finally the last section was the two selves (life as a story, experienced well-being, and thinking about life).  Kahneman draws a great deal from the work he did with a colleague whom he worked with throughout his earlier career, who died.  This is a book that takes research and puts it into very understandable “nuggets” of information.  If we use this information on a regular basis, we will benefit considerably as responders to our environment – i.e., listening to what is being presented to us as people and responding in a manner best for the solution that benefits us the most.  We are human and have been trained how to respond, like animals in the wild.  The problem is how we respond may not be the best way to respond to the potential better outcome that lies around the corner for us.  This is a book for all young people as I believe thinking, like any sport or activity, is about routine, the more we train and reflect, the better we will get “it right.”  A great book!!