Sign in with Facebook
Faith Wood's Reviews > Thinking, Fast and Slow
Thinking, Fast and Slow
by
by
I have to admit that I found this book slow. I wanted to like it; I wanted to be interested and attentive; I wanted to find meaning in the text, but instead I found myself easily distracted, constantly struggling to stay on task. Perhaps what I wanted to do was stop reading and what I decided to do was struggle through to the end.
How do we guard against jumping to ineffective conclusions (the book will surely become more interesting as I read) while focused on what we want to do (stop reading and do something more entertaining)? I hoped for the answer to this puzzle and so much more. Unfortunately, for me, it missed the mark. I found the 418 pages to be tedious and slow reading. An exhaustive expose of
Kahneman’s research and work over the past decade. It felt a bit like I was sitting in a boring lecture trying desperately to stay on task because I liked the professor.
Essentially, Daniel Kahneman poses a hypothesis about the inner workings of the brain. Normally, this alone would intrigue me. He explains that we (human beings) operate from two defined systems of thinking: a System 1 that is quick and intuitive, and a System 2 that is slower and more logical. I think we have heard a lot of this before. He goes on to explain that we ought not to trust that quick, intuitive thinking style unless we have developed considerable experience and predictability with the subject matter and the environment in which we find ourselves. However, this is nothing new and continues to be of great debate when calculating risk assessments particularly in emergency situations where rapid fire thinking is a ‘must have’ resource.
Synthesizing decades of his research, as well as that of colleagues, Kahneman lays out a lot of research in the science of human decision-making—a map of the mind that resembles a finely tuned machine with, alas, some notable trapdoors and faulty wiring.
When I first saw how large the book was, I was hopeful that within the pages would be some revelations as to how to trust our intuition and influence more accurate rapid decision making. Perhaps I hoped for some science that that would encourage me to rethink my perspectives and challenge me to activate cleverer thought patterns. Instead, I fought distraction and connection.
Perhaps a study of economics and algorithms in human behavior is not what I expected. Not that there was not some good content in the pages, but I didn’t find anything particularly new. “Yes”, we have a natural aversion to loss and risk. “Yes”, our intuition can sometimes be wrong and “Yes”, when emotions and immediate timely feedback are activated simultaneously, we remember the lessons longer. Perhaps these three take—ways sum it all up the best - from 481 pages to two sentences.
For what it’s worth, I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it either.
How do we guard against jumping to ineffective conclusions (the book will surely become more interesting as I read) while focused on what we want to do (stop reading and do something more entertaining)? I hoped for the answer to this puzzle and so much more. Unfortunately, for me, it missed the mark. I found the 418 pages to be tedious and slow reading. An exhaustive expose of
Kahneman’s research and work over the past decade. It felt a bit like I was sitting in a boring lecture trying desperately to stay on task because I liked the professor.
Essentially, Daniel Kahneman poses a hypothesis about the inner workings of the brain. Normally, this alone would intrigue me. He explains that we (human beings) operate from two defined systems of thinking: a System 1 that is quick and intuitive, and a System 2 that is slower and more logical. I think we have heard a lot of this before. He goes on to explain that we ought not to trust that quick, intuitive thinking style unless we have developed considerable experience and predictability with the subject matter and the environment in which we find ourselves. However, this is nothing new and continues to be of great debate when calculating risk assessments particularly in emergency situations where rapid fire thinking is a ‘must have’ resource.
Synthesizing decades of his research, as well as that of colleagues, Kahneman lays out a lot of research in the science of human decision-making—a map of the mind that resembles a finely tuned machine with, alas, some notable trapdoors and faulty wiring.
When I first saw how large the book was, I was hopeful that within the pages would be some revelations as to how to trust our intuition and influence more accurate rapid decision making. Perhaps I hoped for some science that that would encourage me to rethink my perspectives and challenge me to activate cleverer thought patterns. Instead, I fought distraction and connection.
Perhaps a study of economics and algorithms in human behavior is not what I expected. Not that there was not some good content in the pages, but I didn’t find anything particularly new. “Yes”, we have a natural aversion to loss and risk. “Yes”, our intuition can sometimes be wrong and “Yes”, when emotions and immediate timely feedback are activated simultaneously, we remember the lessons longer. Perhaps these three take—ways sum it all up the best - from 481 pages to two sentences.
For what it’s worth, I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it either.
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read
Thinking, Fast and Slow.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
Finished Reading
July 6, 2015
– Shelved
