The Undoing Project by Michael Lewis - 4 stars

[annapi]

From the Amazon description (feeling too lazy to try to summarize the book myself):

Forty years ago, Israeli psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky wrote a series of breathtakingly original studies undoing our assumptions about the decision-making process. Their papers showed the ways in which the human mind erred, systematically, when forced to make judgments in uncertain situations. Their work created the field of behavioral economics, revolutionized Big Data studies, advanced evidence-based medicine, led to a new approach to government regulation, and made much of Michael Lewis’s own work possible. Kahneman and Tversky are more responsible than anybody for the powerful trend to mistrust human intuition and defer to algorithms.

I heard about this on NPR, and was intrigued enough to look for the book. It did not disappoint - the biographies of the men are as fascinating as their work. Though I know very little about economics and psychology, Lewis's writing makes it easy to understand and follow the narrative of a subject that never interested me before. Recommended!

[Anita]

So glad someone else read this and enjoyed it! I think Michael Lewis is an absolute literary force. I saw him speak about this book at the National Book Festival, and if you are so inclined, it was simulcast on C-SPAN and was very worthwhile. He's very witty and sharp as you might imagine.

https://www.c-span.org/video/?432540-...

[annapi]

I voted for this on Goodreads Choice for this year's non-fiction category.