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Thinking, Fast and Slow book cover

Cover: Open Library

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Thinking, Fast and Slow

by Daniel Kahneman

★★★★★ 5/5 · Poornadnyan rating

The big idea

We think with a fast, automatic system and a slow, effortful one – and many of our errors come from trusting the fast one when we should not.

Read it if…

Readers who want the deep science of decision-making from a Nobel Prize winner.

Skip it if…

You are new to the topic – start with a lighter book first.

Key ideas in 2 minutes

  1. System 1 is quick and intuitive; System 2 is slow and careful – and lazy.
  2. Losses hurt more than equal gains feel good (loss aversion).
  3. Our confidence in a story is not evidence that the story is true.

Our review

One of the most important books on how humans think. It is long and sometimes technical, so read it slowly – a few chapters a week is fine.

If you finish it, you will understand the ideas behind half of modern economics, marketing and self-help.

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