Science made fun
How We Decide is a great book. It probes the psychology and the biology behind how we make decisions, and what is interesting is that not all decisions are made in the same way. That is in some cases, it's better not to think at all and in other cases it's best to do a whole mess of thinking. Of course, I think I will probably forget which is which and go on making bad decision after bad decision.
What makes How We Decide so interesting is all the anecdotal evidence and the scientific research some of it serendipitous into the whole idea of the human brain and how it goes about getting us through all those decisions that life throws in our path everyday.
So, how do we decide? Well, the answer is that there is no good answer. In chapter after chapter Lehrer goes on to reveal that our decisions are not based on the things we think they are based on, but there is hope. Readers can figure out ways to make better decisions, though I have a feeling the processes we use to make our decisions are so ingrained that it may be very difficult to shake them off. For example, athletes can perform better by not thinking about their performance, which is kind of like not thinking of an elephant.
