Scan barcode
dmaurath's review against another edition
4.0
Despite some of the dated references (e.g., long-distance phone service and video rentals), most of the advice here is timeless and valuable to revisit from time to time. While the book relies on some research and studies, it's not the typical pattern of pop psychology books with argument followed by evidence arranged by theme of argument. Instead, there is much original thinking here and reasonable solutions to the problem of too much choice.
t_shaffner's review against another edition
3.0
I'd read articles on this topic before at various points and was interested in the topic, but I didn't feel like this book added a whole lot to them. In fact I'd say reading them instead of this book was most of the value with two exceptions.
First, the book went into much more detail than any of the articles about why browsing multiple choices to optimize costs a lot of happiness with the final choice. The more detailed descriptions of how seeing all the alternatives leaves you with an "ideal best" in mind that gets ever higher with more comparisons and thus leaves you more dissatisfied with your inevitably lesser final choice was effective, and was driven home far better in the book than it had been in the articles. For that, and the sense of intuition around it that it built, there was value.
Second, the last chapter of the book was good as it was a concerted description of what's to be done about the issue and how one can push oneself to be better. If I ever come back to this it will be to reread just that last chapter.
Beyond that it felt like a lot of wandering and a lot of filler to flesh out enough pages to merit a book, and in the end, as a result, it largely didn't.
First, the book went into much more detail than any of the articles about why browsing multiple choices to optimize costs a lot of happiness with the final choice. The more detailed descriptions of how seeing all the alternatives leaves you with an "ideal best" in mind that gets ever higher with more comparisons and thus leaves you more dissatisfied with your inevitably lesser final choice was effective, and was driven home far better in the book than it had been in the articles. For that, and the sense of intuition around it that it built, there was value.
Second, the last chapter of the book was good as it was a concerted description of what's to be done about the issue and how one can push oneself to be better. If I ever come back to this it will be to reread just that last chapter.
Beyond that it felt like a lot of wandering and a lot of filler to flesh out enough pages to merit a book, and in the end, as a result, it largely didn't.
aarongertler's review against another edition
4.0
I didn't really read the book -- just Derek Sivers' summary, which was a five-star summary. I'm taking off a cautionary star, because the shortness of the summary, compared to the length of the book, implies that there's a lot of stuff in the book not worth annotating. Start with the summary, and see if you care to continue from there.
crystalstarrlight's review against another edition
4.0
Bullet Review:
Fascinating look at why making decisions can be so hard and some tips on how to lessen the regret from making a "bad choice".
There were a few comments that came across somewhat sexist, but as I can't remember them (I read this over a LOOOOOONG period of time), I won't push the point.
Fascinating look at why making decisions can be so hard and some tips on how to lessen the regret from making a "bad choice".
There were a few comments that came across somewhat sexist, but as I can't remember them (I read this over a LOOOOOONG period of time), I won't push the point.
smolgalaxybrain's review against another edition
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
jacbom17's review against another edition
3.0
There was a lot of great info and reasoning explaining the modern stress of decision making. I think it'll help me be more decisive or at least more understanding of my indecisiveness. It definitely could have just been a great article. The author keeps it light, thankfully otherwise it would be unbearable to get through. Am i better for reading it? Maybe. Would i recommend? Not really.