life hereafter

random musings from a wannabe economist

Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior by Ori Brafman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The authors main premise is that we as humans are fundamentally flawed in our abilities to make rational decisions due to various factors in our upbringing and values systems.

Take for example the story about Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? In America individuals generally admire the wealthy, and as a result when a contestant on the show uses the Ask the Audience life-line the audience gives the correct answer more than 90% of the time. Russians are suspicious of the wealthy as they believe that they have gotten rich at the expense of the many. This was based on the experiences just after the fall of communism in the early 90’s. Subsequently, very, very rarely does the audience in the Russian version of the show ever give the correct answer. In-fact is seems like the audience purposefully gives the wrong answer, just to screw with the contestants. Different value systems, different responses.

Each chapter goes through a different factor that sways us from rational decision making, culminating in an ending that recommends.

The book is very light and airy, not delving too deeply into any one topic, and not really providing too much statistical information from the various studies reviewed by the authors. For this reason I think the book was a great primer on the topic of irrational behavior. Those seeking a greater understanding of why the human mind makes decisions the way it does, would be better served by finding a more technical book on the topic.

Those who enjoy books by Malcolm Gladwell and the Freakonomics-esque will definitely enjoy Sway.

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Under the Dome by Stephen King

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Ok. At just shy of 1100 pages, this was one monster of a book.

This was my first Stephen King novel and as such was not very familiar with his writing. I have seen a lot of his movies and thoroughly enjoyed them and I thought the premise for this book sounded great. Small town gets cut off from the rest of the world via a large dome? What’s not to like?

The novel explores the dark, unsettling side of human nature. It brings to light the things we have down in our past of which we are not quite proud of and which we can never truly atone for. The main characters struggle with these things throughout the novel ultimately learning that you just have to move on, do your best and learn something. It also explores fundamental Christianity and the use of fear as a political device.

Personally, I thought this book had a real “made-for-tv” movie quality about it. I’m not a huge fan of the reader knowing things that the main characters do not drive you to know. King frequently informs the reader of certain things which are in place or certain people who are going to die chapters before.

Foreshadowing is one thing, outright telling people what is going to happen is another. I can almost see a conversation happening between two unsuspecting people as the camera pans away so the viewer can see the bomb set to go off.

I gave this novel three stars because it was entertaining and the story did keep moving forward, however I’m not sure I am going to run out and buy another of King’s novels just yet.

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Do you ever wonder what school children will read in history textbooks 50 years from now?

Will they actually call this the Great Recession and outline the programs put in place by the Bush/Obama administrations aimed at restarting lending (TALF), propping up asset prices (TARP) and creating jobs (ARRA)? Will they look back the way we did at the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), Works Projects Administration (WPA) and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and think, “wow, they really did a lot to get them out of such a tough economic time…” Or will history books actually reflect the generally accepted belief that these programs only served to prolong the depressed economic climate of the time, as most reputable historians and economists think today about the Great Depression…

Did we learn from our mistakes? Only time will tell… (I’ll see you at the Tick Tock Diner in New York City on November 22nd 2059.)

Got a whole bunch of new books for Christmas which need to be finished:

• Crash-Proof: How to Profit from the Coming Economic Collapse
• I.O.U.S.A.: One Nation. Under Stress. In Debt.
• More Information Than You Require
• A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future
• The Orange Code

I just finished reading Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking.

I received it some time in February, however one thing led to another and I didn’t start reading it until mid-June.

Overall the book was not what I expected. Originally, before I even obtained the book, I thought it was about the power of first impressions and how to make a really good one. After receiving the book and reading the full title I realized it was about thinking and assumed that I would be learning boring tips on how to increase my cognitive ability in order to make snap judgments.

Upon actually reading the book I now know that it wasn’t really a guide to anything. It was simply a collection of anecdotes, research and analysis which support the fact that sometimes you just have to trust yourself. The collection of stories and research were quite interesting to read in their own right and may even teach you a thing or two about your own bias even when you consciously have none.

The book teaches that more information is not necessarily better. In certain cases we are better off trusting our first instincts and our judgments rather than spending hours deliberating. One must be careful and learn when it is appropriate to apply first instincts and when it is appropriate to fully analyze a situation.

The conclusion of the book is rather interesting in that it basically goes against human nature and states that it is best to analyze when the choices seem simple and to make snap decisions when the choices are numerous or complex. You’ll have to read the book to fully understand why.

On Monday’s episode of The Colbert Report on Hulu, there was an author promoting her new book This Land is Their Land. The book’s premise is that the gap between the wealthy and the poor is growing wider. This got me to thinking… “Hey, I need to come up with an idea to make me extremely wealthy!” The goal here is to make certain that I never ever have to work again. Ever.
A few ideas:

• Write a book about my family and call it fiction (could be a best seller)
• Write a book about how to write books
• Sell a kit that teaches you to sell a kit that will make you rich quick
• Wait outside of bars in Manayunk and sell drunk college kids greasy food.
• Develop an herbal product (doesn’t matter what) and promote it on QVC: “The cure for _____!“
• A device which folds your clean laundry for you. [patent pending]
• Save a few pennies here and there until I manage to amass $1 million; die the next day…

As you can see, I need to give this a good bit more thought…