Scan barcode
A review by t_shaffner
The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less by Barry Schwartz
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.