Thinking, Fast and Slow
by Daniel Kahneman
Kahneman's summary of a career in judgment and decision research: the fast, intuitive System 1 and the slow, effortful System 2, and the catalogue of biases that follow. It is long, dense and occasionally dated by replication problems in priming research, but the core, anchoring, loss aversion, overconfidence, the planning fallacy, is solid and useful.
Read it if…
you make decisions for a living and want to understand your own machinery.
Skip it if…
you want a quick read; this is a serious book that rewards patience.
Three things you will actually use
- Use base rates before gut feel.
- Expect to be overconfident; widen your ranges.
- Delay important decisions when tired or hungry.
Do this first
Before your next estimate, write down the base rate for similar projects before you adjust for yours.
Our verdict
A landmark; demanding, essential, better in pieces than in a rush.
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