statman's review against another edition
3.0
This one was a harder one to rate for me. I loved Kahneman's book - Thinking Fast and Slow. It had a huge impact on me and is a fantastic book. This book talks about the relationship that led to that book so I was excited to read it. This is more biographical and it works but I felt that it would be hard to really follow the book without having read Kahneman's book. I think it is not really tailored to someone who hasn't read it. But someone who has read it would see a lot of redundancy in what they had already read.
rcthomas's review against another edition
4.0
Brilliant biographical account of Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, two Israeli psychologists who essentially wrote the book on human mental errors in the ability to make judgments and decisions. It beautifully profiles each man, their work leading up to their collaboration, the works they achieved together, and eventually the work they went on to achieve after they stopped collaborating.
It's stuffed with historical details and influences on the two men, the characters and obstacles they encountered along the way, and their lasting impact on the world of economics, medicine, psychology, and even sports.
It's stuffed with historical details and influences on the two men, the characters and obstacles they encountered along the way, and their lasting impact on the world of economics, medicine, psychology, and even sports.
mikagrml's review
4.0
Über dieses Buch bin ich durch die wunderbaren Rezensionen von [a: Kathrin Passig|944860|Kathrin Passig|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1311621922p2/944860.jpg] aufmerksam geworden, siehe u.a. Mit zwei Köpfen denken und „The Undoing Project" und der Beginn einer Automatischen Sachbuchkritik. Der Griff zum englischsprachigen Original war beabsichtigt und wohl auch eine gute Wahl.
Das Buch ist einfach fantastisch geschrieben (und eigentlich müsste ich deswegen 5 Sterne vergeben, aber meine Skala ist diesbezüglich leider ein wenig kaputt, bitte also die 5 Sterne einfach selbst dazu denken) und macht mir absolut Lust die Werke von Kahneman (noch einmal) zu lesen.
Das Buch ist einfach fantastisch geschrieben (und eigentlich müsste ich deswegen 5 Sterne vergeben, aber meine Skala ist diesbezüglich leider ein wenig kaputt, bitte also die 5 Sterne einfach selbst dazu denken) und macht mir absolut Lust die Werke von Kahneman (noch einmal) zu lesen.
dkpnw's review
4.0
The psychology itself is insanely cool (although it didn't go into excessive detail), plus I got a new perspective on Israel and academia alike. Good stuff
zenithharpink's review against another edition
2.0
I have greatly enjoyed Lewis' previous books, which followed a particular story prominently-and only fleetingly focused on the details of the characters involved. This book couldn't decide if it was a (dual) biography or a nonfiction book about an economic phenomenon. I was looking for latter, and found that the former was far too interested-the biographical details of the scientist simply wasn't interesting to me, and I found myself glazing over multiple chapters.
I believe this was because enough "meat" on this story-and the biographical details seemed to flesh out the story (no pun intended). Even with these unnecessary details, the book was barely over 300 pages. There simply wasn't enough to the science here-there was no practical application, like Lewis had featured prominently in his other books. The very Lewis-ness that I so appreciated was simply not present in this book, much to my disappointment.
I only recommend to fans of Lewis who are already committed to read all of his work. Otherwise, I don't believe this is worth the reader's time.
I believe this was because enough "meat" on this story-and the biographical details seemed to flesh out the story (no pun intended). Even with these unnecessary details, the book was barely over 300 pages. There simply wasn't enough to the science here-there was no practical application, like Lewis had featured prominently in his other books. The very Lewis-ness that I so appreciated was simply not present in this book, much to my disappointment.
I only recommend to fans of Lewis who are already committed to read all of his work. Otherwise, I don't believe this is worth the reader's time.
elpanek's review against another edition
3.0
As I was deciding how many stars to give this book, hovering over each star and finding, to my surprise, that a two-star rating meant that you thought the book was 'ok,' it was hard not to think of Danny Kahneman and Amos Tversky. Like all the best work, in science as in fiction, their research transforms how you see the everyday world. It was then natural for me (or, presumably, any admirer of their work) to wonder where the insights came from.
The Undoing Project is attempting to do more than tell us where a particular set of influential ideas came from. It's trying to tell an emotionally compelling story of a romance-like friendship, a task at which it's only half-successful. The lives of academics can seem like an unlikely place to find drama, humor, and suspense, but Michael Lewis specializes in extracting precious sentiment from bone-dry source material. In this case, the most obvious place to go looking for drama was on the battlefield: both Tversky and Kahneman served in the Israeli army during the Six-Day War. Beyond that, we get it in the slow-burn rivalries among scholars, but most of the emotional weight of the story rests on the arc of Kanheman and Tversky's odd-couple friendship. We begin knowing how things between the two will end, which renders poignant otherwise pedestrian moments in the lives of two psychology professors. However, not enough is done with the order of life events or the pacing with which they're relayed to generate much tension in the plot of their relationship. As a consequence, parts of the book feel like little more than enlightening vignettes.
The book simultaneously mystifies and demystifies the process of generating Nobel-winning insights into human behavior. The actual spitballing that leads to the ideas is often portrayed in ways not dissimilar from sex scenes in a production-code-era movie: all the fun happens behind closed doors, out of sight. It's when the specific contours of the insights are explained that Lewis pulls back the veil. You get a bit of the vicarious thrill of discovery, and Lewis takes great pains to explain how Tversky and Kanheman's ideas are both obvious-sounding and world-changing.
There was one choice made by Lewis that really stuck out to me, and not in a good way: the decision to start the book with a lengthy story about the circumstances in which he first encountered Tversky and Kanheman's ideas. The chapter gets pretty deep into the weeds of how basketball players are scouted, like a too-long Malcolm Gladwell piece. I didn't mind, but as the chapter dragged on, I couldn't help but think of the poor souls who came to the book seeking refuge in ivy-covered cathedrals of knowledge only to find themselves in a gym.
Both Tversky and Kanheman are endearing characters, and I imagine this book will help those unfamiliar with or unconvinced of their genius to see what they've been missing. To anyone who has read Thinking, Fast and Slow and found themselves desiring a behind-the-scenes extension of the introduction to that book (in which Kanheman hints at how close he was to his intellectual soulmate), this will likely be a satisfying read. Despite its imperfections, the book is a welcome compliment to the non-fiction tales that sought to romanticize other fields of inquiry like physics and math. Why shouldn't we romanticize psychology researchers, too? And if neither of their names happen to be 'Freud,' so much the better.
The Undoing Project is attempting to do more than tell us where a particular set of influential ideas came from. It's trying to tell an emotionally compelling story of a romance-like friendship, a task at which it's only half-successful. The lives of academics can seem like an unlikely place to find drama, humor, and suspense, but Michael Lewis specializes in extracting precious sentiment from bone-dry source material. In this case, the most obvious place to go looking for drama was on the battlefield: both Tversky and Kahneman served in the Israeli army during the Six-Day War. Beyond that, we get it in the slow-burn rivalries among scholars, but most of the emotional weight of the story rests on the arc of Kanheman and Tversky's odd-couple friendship. We begin knowing how things between the two will end, which renders poignant otherwise pedestrian moments in the lives of two psychology professors. However, not enough is done with the order of life events or the pacing with which they're relayed to generate much tension in the plot of their relationship. As a consequence, parts of the book feel like little more than enlightening vignettes.
The book simultaneously mystifies and demystifies the process of generating Nobel-winning insights into human behavior. The actual spitballing that leads to the ideas is often portrayed in ways not dissimilar from sex scenes in a production-code-era movie: all the fun happens behind closed doors, out of sight. It's when the specific contours of the insights are explained that Lewis pulls back the veil. You get a bit of the vicarious thrill of discovery, and Lewis takes great pains to explain how Tversky and Kanheman's ideas are both obvious-sounding and world-changing.
There was one choice made by Lewis that really stuck out to me, and not in a good way: the decision to start the book with a lengthy story about the circumstances in which he first encountered Tversky and Kanheman's ideas. The chapter gets pretty deep into the weeds of how basketball players are scouted, like a too-long Malcolm Gladwell piece. I didn't mind, but as the chapter dragged on, I couldn't help but think of the poor souls who came to the book seeking refuge in ivy-covered cathedrals of knowledge only to find themselves in a gym.
Both Tversky and Kanheman are endearing characters, and I imagine this book will help those unfamiliar with or unconvinced of their genius to see what they've been missing. To anyone who has read Thinking, Fast and Slow and found themselves desiring a behind-the-scenes extension of the introduction to that book (in which Kanheman hints at how close he was to his intellectual soulmate), this will likely be a satisfying read. Despite its imperfections, the book is a welcome compliment to the non-fiction tales that sought to romanticize other fields of inquiry like physics and math. Why shouldn't we romanticize psychology researchers, too? And if neither of their names happen to be 'Freud,' so much the better.