Customer Rating: 
Summary: Get a tremendous ROI with this book!
Comment: One of the most incite raising books I've ever read. I bought copies for my sons, boss, and co-workers. It will pay back in greenbacks.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Very interesting if you can separate wheat from chaff.
Comment: It is hard to design experiments that reveal something that hasn't been explored before, and to do it in the field that interests almost everybody. It is even harder to know your limitations, and to stay within your field of competence. Especially if your name is Dan Ariely.
The book describes a good number of experiments which demonstrate irrational behaviour of humans in a variety of situations. Not all are eye-opening, especially if you know SOME behavioural psychology, but overwhelming majority are curious at the very least. If nothing else, you will chuckle at students who prefer the "MIT brew" (beer + balsamic vinegar) over beer by a wide margin UNLESS they are told the ingredients, and patients who are cured by a placebo, provided they are told it is EXPENSIVE.
Unfortunately, the author is not satisfied with simply summarising his experiments and letting the reader draw the conclusions. He offers his own, and they range from slightly overreaching to wildly speculative. It is somewhat forgivable that Mr. Ariely thinks that even the most limited of his experiments reveal something profoundly deep about human nature. But it gets outright silly when he offers his opinion, in the authoritative tone of an expert, in the matters of economics and public policy, as he reveals his total ignorance in both subjects.
I still recommend this book to almost anyone with an interest in popular psychology. At the end of the day, there is a lot of all of remarkable information to digest, and the author's hubris will be just a small annoyance to a smart reader.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Falls way short.
Comment: Not very entertaining. Not very educational. A lot of the material wasn't new to me. Once or twice I wasn't sure what his point was.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A must-read: No doubt about it!!!
Comment: Predictably Irrational is one book that satisfies so many audiences that it is simply amazing, and it does an awesome job at that. Without delving into the research that Dan Ariely and his group of eminent researchers/friends have carried out - that would take away the fun of discovering some of the insights presented in the book - I must say that the book had great appeal for me as a business-person, as a family man & parent and as a person living in society at large. It has some very important implications for people working in government who are responsible for policy-making and for individuals who wish to avoid making mistakes they could've been making repeatedly. In all honesty, my behaviour has changed in some measure after reading this book and I think the results that I can monitor in the short-term, are positive. A really, really good book!!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: why we do what we do - amazing
Comment: A well written and engaging look at some "irrational" behaviors that turn out to be - who knew?!?! - a whole lot less randon than we thought. I may never look at a sale flyer, or even a resturant menu the same way again.
Summary: Get a tremendous ROI with this book!
Comment: One of the most incite raising books I've ever read. I bought copies for my sons, boss, and co-workers. It will pay back in greenbacks.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Very interesting if you can separate wheat from chaff.
Comment: It is hard to design experiments that reveal something that hasn't been explored before, and to do it in the field that interests almost everybody. It is even harder to know your limitations, and to stay within your field of competence. Especially if your name is Dan Ariely.
The book describes a good number of experiments which demonstrate irrational behaviour of humans in a variety of situations. Not all are eye-opening, especially if you know SOME behavioural psychology, but overwhelming majority are curious at the very least. If nothing else, you will chuckle at students who prefer the "MIT brew" (beer + balsamic vinegar) over beer by a wide margin UNLESS they are told the ingredients, and patients who are cured by a placebo, provided they are told it is EXPENSIVE.
Unfortunately, the author is not satisfied with simply summarising his experiments and letting the reader draw the conclusions. He offers his own, and they range from slightly overreaching to wildly speculative. It is somewhat forgivable that Mr. Ariely thinks that even the most limited of his experiments reveal something profoundly deep about human nature. But it gets outright silly when he offers his opinion, in the authoritative tone of an expert, in the matters of economics and public policy, as he reveals his total ignorance in both subjects.
I still recommend this book to almost anyone with an interest in popular psychology. At the end of the day, there is a lot of all of remarkable information to digest, and the author's hubris will be just a small annoyance to a smart reader.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Falls way short.
Comment: Not very entertaining. Not very educational. A lot of the material wasn't new to me. Once or twice I wasn't sure what his point was.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A must-read: No doubt about it!!!
Comment: Predictably Irrational is one book that satisfies so many audiences that it is simply amazing, and it does an awesome job at that. Without delving into the research that Dan Ariely and his group of eminent researchers/friends have carried out - that would take away the fun of discovering some of the insights presented in the book - I must say that the book had great appeal for me as a business-person, as a family man & parent and as a person living in society at large. It has some very important implications for people working in government who are responsible for policy-making and for individuals who wish to avoid making mistakes they could've been making repeatedly. In all honesty, my behaviour has changed in some measure after reading this book and I think the results that I can monitor in the short-term, are positive. A really, really good book!!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: why we do what we do - amazing
Comment: A well written and engaging look at some "irrational" behaviors that turn out to be - who knew?!?! - a whole lot less randon than we thought. I may never look at a sale flyer, or even a resturant menu the same way again.
Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions Reviews: Page 2 of 32
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