Review: Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

In Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman tells the tale of two “functions” of the brain: System 1 (our automatic thought processes) and System 2 (our conscious thought processes). The book is scientific non-fiction, but as far as scientific non-fiction goes, it manages to be both engaging and entertaining.  Based on the content alone, I would suggest that everyone read this book. It illuminates the unconscious choices and biases of the human mind, from why people play the lottery, to how lunch breaks affect parole hearings. I know I will be far more conscious of my choices for having read it.

Read this if:

1. You’re looking for an enjoyable read about the inner workings of the mind.

2. You want to better understand how humans make judgments and choices.

3. You want to make thoughtful, “intentional” choices.

Favorite Quotes:

“A reliable way to make people believe in falsehoods is frequent repetition, because familiarity is not easily distinguished from truth. Authoritarian institutions and marketers have always known this fact.” ― Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow

“The psychologist, Paul Rozin, an expert on disgust, observed that a single cockroach will completely wreck the appeal of a bowl of cherries, but a cherry will do nothing at all for a bowl of cockroaches.”

― Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow

“You are more likely to learn something by finding surprises in your own behavior than by hearing surprising facts about people in general.”

― Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow

“Confidence is a feeling, which reflects the coherence of the information and the cognitive ease of processing it. It is wise to take admissions of uncertainty seriously, but declarations of high confidence mainly tell you that an individual has constructed a coherent story in his mind, not necessarily that the story is true.”

― Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow

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