Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions | 
| Author: Dan Ariely
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Category: Book
List Price: £16.99
Buy New: £8.49
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Avg. Customer Rating:  48 reviews
Sales Rank: 512
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.4
ISBN: 0007256523
EAN: 9780007256525
ASIN: 0007256523
Publication Date: March 3, 2008
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Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews: Read 43 more reviews...
Absolutely fascinating. July 30, 2008
I was given this book to review several months ago, and it's been sitting on my 'to do' shelf ever since. I kept procrastinating because... well, it seemed like it would be a very dull read. I didn't even know what 'Behavioral Economics' was, and it didn't exactly sound like a page-turner.
In fact, I've discovered that I couldn't have been more wrong. It *is* a page-turner. I usually picked it up intending to read just one chapter, then didn't set it down until I'd read three or four.
The chapters are quite short and 'bite-sized'.
The book explores a lot of the totally illogical things that we do from day to day. Things that hurt our bank balance, or our health, or our relationship with family or work colleagues. It's full of interesting experiments that have been carried out to back up the thesis, and gives occasional pointers on how get ourselves out of our self-imposed traps.
Not that the 'traps' are always self-imposed. When you read the book, you'll find a trip to the supermarket will be a whole new experience, and you'll never feel quite the same about those 'buy one, get one free' offers. You'll have a much better awareness of how salesmen, advertisers, and probably governments manage to manipulate us so easily.
Definitely recommended for anyone interested in why we humans do the crazy things we do.
 Not as dull as it sounds (is that a compliment?) July 14, 2008
As book titles go, this isn't the catchiest. The subject matter could be construed as dull and narrow, and the weight of the book gives an air of study accompaniment rather than bedtime read.
But wait... luckily the study of behavioural economics requires lots of research and experimentation, and whilst the results may not always feel like "real science" (example - students are offered four beers, and the study showed that people would rather choose something different to the others in order to show individuality, dubious in my view), some of the studies reveal useful insight into the way the mind works and how business manipulates it.
It's actually surprisingly easy to read, aside from a sludgy section on social and market norms (the difference between, say, taking a bottle of wine round your friends house because they brought one round yours, as opposed to paying them back for bringing it). There is righteous criticism that this book takes too much of a US stance, and there are too many slants on the US health system for instance (maybe because he experienced so much first hand).
Overall, a very enjoyable bed time read, and I shall look carefully at the deals I'm offered in a supermarket from now on.
Go with your gut feel June 26, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
As a complement to something like Malcolm Gladwell's 'Blink' this is a useful reader. It explores more of the mechanics of why we make decisions on instinct and from emotion. In that sense it is fascinating.
The title explains it all! June 25, 2008
Predictably irrational indeed, but eminently readable.
Ever wondered about the whys and wherefores of how we decide things? This explains it (or trys to anyway!). An amusing and certainly not stodgy trip into decision processes, which left me thinking that the author and his amusing style would be an ideal candidate to rewrite Steven Hawking's "Brief history of time" as his explanation and analysis skills are first rate.
Worth a read. Don't ask me why, try reading the book and you might get an idea why I think that way
Competent but doesn't stand out June 19, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Since the success of Freakonomics almost every living economist must have been pressed into service to write a popular science book. The main problem this book has is that there is a whole category of 'things you didn't know about economics' books now.
The book is in easily digestible chapters, reads easily and is pretty hard to argue with, the author appears to put together experiments to determine what makes us act irrationally (or unlike classical economists' models).
In short sexual arousal, free stuff and an inability to judge free from the local environment. I doubt many people will be surprised by much in this book, as the classical rational being is a bit of a straw man these days.
The author doesn't write as well as Tim Harford, and the book doesn't shock as much as Freakonomics, in marketing terms it lacks a unique selling point. Worth it if you're a fan of these kinds of book.
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