Synopses & Reviews
Every day, we make decisions on topics ranging from personal investments to schools for our children to the meals we eat to the causes we champion. Unfortunately, we often choose poorly. The reason, the authors explain, is that, being human, we all are susceptible to various biases that can lead us to blunder. Our mistakes make us poorer and less healthy; we often make bad decisions involving education, personal finance, health care, mortgages and credit cards, the family, and even the planet itself.
Thaler and Sunstein invite us to enter an alternative world, one that takes our humanness as a given. They show that by knowing how people think, we can design choice environments that make it easier for people to choose what is best for themselves, their families, and their society. Using colorful examples from the most important aspects of life, Thaler and Sunstein demonstrate how thoughtful choice architecture” can be established to nudge us in beneficial directions without restricting freedom of choice. Nudge offers a unique new takefrom neither the left nor the righton many hot-button issues, for individuals and governments alike. This is one of the most engaging and provocative books to come along in many years.
Review
"I love this book. It is one of the few books Ive read recently that fundamentally changes the way I think about the world. Just as surprising, it is fun to read, drawing on examples as far afield as urinals, 401(k) plans, organ donations, and marriage. Academics arent supposed to be able to write this well."Steven Levitt, Alvin Baum Professor of Economics, University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and co-author of Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything -- Adolph Reed Jr.
Review
'\"In this utterly brilliant book, Thaler and Sunstein teach us how to steer people toward better health, sounder investments, and cleaner environments without depriving them of their inalienable right to make a mess of things if they want to. The inventor of behavioral economics and one of the nations best legal minds have produced the manifesto for a revolution in practice and policy.
Nudge wont nudge youit will knock you off your feet.\"Daniel Gilbert, professor of psychology, Harvard University, Author of
Stumbling on Happiness -- Steven Levitt'
Review
'“This is an engaging, informative, and thoroughly delightful book. Thaler and Sunstein provide important lessons for structuring social policies so that people still have complete choice over their own actions, but are gently nudged to do what is in their own best interests. Well done.”Don Norman, Northwestern University, Author of
The Design of Everyday Things and
The Design of Future Things -- Daniel Gilbert'
Review
'“This book is terrific. It will change the way you think, not only about the world around you and some of its bigger problems, but also about yourself.”Michael Lewis, author of
The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game and
Liars Poker -- Don Norman'
Review
"Two University of Chicago professors sketch a new approach to public policy that takes into account the odd realities of human behavior, like the deep and unthinking tendency to conform. Even in areaslike energy consumptionwhere conformity is irrelevant. Thaler has documented the ways people act illogically."Barbara Kiviat, Time -- Michael Lewis
Review
'\"Richard Thaler and Cass Sunsteins
Nudge is a wonderful book: more fun than any important book has a right to beand yet it is truly both.\"Roger Lowenstein, author of
When Genius Failed -- Barbara Kiviat - Time'
Review
"A manifesto for using the recent behavioral research to help people, as well as government agencies, companies and charities, make better decisions."David Leonhardt, The New York Times Magazine -- Roger Lowenstein
Review
'“How often do you read a book that is both important and amusing, both practical and deep? This gem of a book presents the best idea that has come out of behavioral economics. It is a must-read for anyone who wants to see both our minds and our society working better. It will improve your decisions and it will make the world a better place.”Daniel Kahneman, Princeton University, Nobel Laureate in Economics
-- David Leonhardt - The New York Times Magazine'
Review
"Engaging, enlightening."George Scialabba, Boston Sunday Globe -- Daniel Kahneman
Review
"The suggestions in Nudge provide fascinating examples of how tiny changes in context can cue radically different behaviour. Awareness of these cues empowers consumers, voters and decision-makers."Rebecca Walberg, National Post -- George Scialabba - Boston Sunday Globe
Review
"An essential read . . . an entertaining book. . . . The book isnt only humorous, its loaded with good ideas that financial-service executives, policy makers, Wall Street mavens, and all savers can use."John F. Wasik, Boston Globe -- Rebecca Walberg - National Post
Review
"Informative, lively and provocative, The Myth of Choice: Personal Responsibility in a World of Limits has important implications for the decisions we make in our everyday lives."and#8212;Glenn C. Altschuler, The Sunday Oregonian
Review
"A fascinating, engaging dissection of the meanings and implications of choice in a wide variety of cultural arenas."and#8212;Matthew Tiffany, Shelf Awareness
Review
“The Myth of Choice isnt just tightly argued, its an enjoyable read as well…Comprehensive and readable enough to satisfy both newcomers and veterans of this debate.”—Boston Globe Boston Globe
Review
and#8220;Greenfield unpacks the complexities masked by the free-market bromides, which pass for economic debate in the United States, deftly dispatching ossified conventional wisdom that completely ignores our growing knowledge of how people actually make decisions. and#8220;and#8212;Boston Globe
Review
"[F]ascinating . . . it is undeniably important that we become better aware of the forces that subtly and profoundly limit our choices."and#8212;Michael Kroner, The Plain Dealer
Review
and#8220;A fascinating account of the constraints on personal choice, and the consequences of those constraints for sexuality, religion, politics, law, and everyday life.and#8221;and#8212;Geoffrey R. Stone, author of
Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartimeand#160;
Review
Selected as a Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2012 for Political Theory within the Social and Behavioral Sciences category.
Synopsis
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A groundbreaking discussion of how we can apply the new science of choice architecture to nudge people toward decisions that will improve their lives by making them healthier, wealthier, and more free\n
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Synopsis
Freedom of choice is at the core of the American story. But what if choice is fake?
Synopsis
Americans are fixated on the idea of choice. Our political theory is based on the consent of the governed. Our legal system is built upon the argument that people freely make choices and bear responsibility for them. And what slogan could better express the heart of our consumer culture than "Have it your way"?
In this provocative book, Kent Greenfield poses unsettling questions about the choices we make. What if they are more constrained and limited than we like to think? If we have less free will than we realize, what are the implications for us as individuals and for our society? To uncover the answers, Greenfield taps into scholarship on topics ranging from brain science to economics, political theory to sociology. His discoveriesand#8212;told through an entertaining array of news events, personal anecdotes, crime stories, and legal decisionsand#8212;confirm that many factors, conscious and unconscious, limit our free will. Worse, by failing to perceive them we leave ourselves open to manipulation. But Greenfield offers useful suggestions to help us become better decision makers as individuals, and to ensure that in our laws and public policy we acknowledge the complexity of choice.
About the Author
Richard H. Thaler is the Ralph and Dorothy Keller Distinguished Service Professor of Behavioral Science and Economics and the director of the Center for Decision Research at the University of Chicagos Graduate School of Business. Cass R. Sunstein is Karl N. Llewellyn Distinguished Service Professor of Jurisprudence, University of Chicago Law School and Departent of Political Science.