Review: Thinking, Fast and Slow

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Daniel Kahneman received a Nobel Prize for Economics - and this book summarises what for. This prize is well-deserved.

Kahneman exposes countless studies, surveys and examples of when our irrationality prevails in decision-making. We believe we are more rational than we truly are. But irrationality as such is not bad - we would be quickly mentally overloaded if we were taking rational choices at every step. Intuition is another word for irrationality...

However, it is useful to be aware of our irrationality. In some situations - for example, when an important decision is to be made, when we react to something in the ways that surprise ourselves, or when we seemingly don't understand why other people behave the way they do - it is worth to take a step back and analyse the reasons for that.

Most of our decisions are guided by so-called System 1, a quick and intuitive part of our brains. But sometimes - rather rarely - the so-called System 2 is switched on, an analysing part of our brains. The System 2 is most of the times in a stand-by mode. It is interesting to think how easy it is to turn the System 2 into an active mode.

Kahneman provokes the reader by giving many mental exercises - which often produce "aha!" moments. Illustrations of the principles of this book come from family life, friendships, business, court, financial investment domain, politics, education - so, our lives.

The book itself - although extremely useful - is quite long and at times repetitive. The same concepts are illustrated by different sides of the story, so to say. But once you get the point, the additional examples are not that insightful anymore.

It took me several months to read it through, think, write down some thoughts, read further. Time well spent!