Nudge
by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein
The book that launched choice architecture: because people are predictably biased, the design of defaults, options and feedback shapes decisions, and good design can help without coercion. Retirement savings, organ donation and health are the main cases. The final edition is updated and sharpened. Useful for designing your own environment as much as policy.
Read it if…
you want to design defaults, for yourself or others, that make the good choice the easy one.
Skip it if…
you want individual willpower advice; the book is about environments.
Three things you will actually use
- Defaults decide; set them deliberately.
- Make the desired behavior the path of least resistance.
- Give feedback; people adjust when they can see.
Do this first
Change one default in your life this week: automatic savings, a smaller plate, the phone outside the bedroom.
Our verdict
Influential and practical; environment design.
Compare with other Mindset books
Predictably Irrational
Dan Ariely · Mindset
Entertaining and instructive, with one caveat.
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Factfulness
Hans Rosling with Ola Rosling and Anna Rosling Ronnlund · Mindset
Hopeful, rigorous and clarifying.
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