The Art of Thinking Clearly Summary. it is a 2013 book by the Swiss writer Rolf Dobelli which describes in short chapters 99 of the most common thinking errors – ranging from cognitive biases to envy and social distortions.
The book was written as weekly columns in leading newspapers in Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, and later in two German books. The book was in the top ten of Germany's Der Spiegel Bestseller list for 80 consecutive weeks and has been translated into many languages. Outside Germany and Switzerland, the book hit the top ten bestseller lists in the U.K, South Korea, India, Ireland, Singapore, and Iran. Author Nassim Taleb has asserted that the book included sections plagiarised from Taleb's manuscript of Antifragile.
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| The Art of Thinking Clearly Summary |
The Art of Thinking Clearly Summary
A world-class thinker counts the 100 ways in which humans behave irrationally, showing us what we can do to recognize and minimize these “thinking errors” to make better decisions and have a better life
Despite the best of intentions, humans are notoriously bad—that is, irrational—when it comes to making decisions and assessing risks and tradeoffs. Psychologists and neuroscientists refer to these distinctly human foibles, biases, and thinking traps as “cognitive errors.” Cognitive errors are systematic deviances from rationality, from optimized, logical, rational thinking and behavior.
We make these errors all the time, in all sorts of situations, for problems big and small: whether to choose the apple or the cupcake; whether to keep retirement funds in the stock market when the Dow tanks, or whether to take the advice of a friend over a stranger.
The “behavioral turn” in neuroscience and economics in the past twenty years has increased our understanding of how we think and how we make decisions. It shows how systematic errors mar our thinking and under which conditions our thought processes work best and worst. Evolutionary psychology delivers convincing theories about why our thinking is, in fact, marred. The neurosciences can pinpoint with increasing precision what exactly happens when we think clearly and when we don’t.
Drawing on this wide body of research, The Art of Thinking Clearly is an entertaining presentation of these known systematic thinking errors--offering guidance and insight into everything why you shouldn’t accept a free drink to why you SHOULD walk out of a movie you don’t like it to why it’s so hard to predict the future to why shouldn’t watch the news.
The book is organized into 100 short chapters, each covering a single cognitive error, bias, or heuristic. Examples of these concepts include: Reciprocity, Confirmation Bias, The It-Gets-Better-Before-It-Gets-Worse Trap, and the Man-With-A-Hammer Tendency. In engaging prose and with real-world examples and anecdotes, The Art of Thinking Clearly helps solve the puzzle of human reasoning.
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The Art of Thinking Clearly Themes
- Overconfidence Bias: We tend to overestimate our knowledge, skills, and abilities, leading to errors in judgment and poor decision-making.
- Confirmation Bias: We seek information that confirms our existing beliefs and ignore or downplay evidence that contradicts them, resulting in skewed perspectives and missed opportunities.
- Hindsight Bias: After an event has already occurred, we tend to believe that it was predictable and inevitable, even though we may not have anticipated it beforehand. This hinders our ability to learn from our mistakes and improve our future decisions.
- Availability Heuristic: We judge the likelihood of an event based on how easily we can think of examples of it, leading to inaccurate assessments of risk and probability.
- Anchoring Bias: We give undue weight to the first piece of information we receive, leading to biased judgments and decisions.
- Framing Effect: The way information is presented can significantly influence our choices, even if the underlying facts remain the same.
- Sunk Cost Fallacy: We continue to pursue a course of action, even if it is unsuccessful, simply because we have already invested time, money, or effort into it.
- Loss Aversion: We feel the pain of losses more acutely than the joy of gains, leading us to make irrational decisions to avoid potential losses.
Questions and Answers about The Art of Thinking Clearly Book
What are the lessons from the art of thinking clearly? Lesson #1: The Cause of Something is Never One Thing. Lesson #2: Outside Information Influences our Decision-Making. Lesson #3: We are Blind to What Does Not Exist. Lesson #4: Experts Are Rarely That Experienced.
Is art of thinking clearly worth reading? There are three reasons why I think this book is worth reading: 1. Gain a Deeper Understanding of Your Mind: “The Art of Thinking Clearly” delves into the intricate workings of the human mind, shedding light on the cognitive biases that influence our thinking.
What is social proof the art of thinking clearly? Social proof, sometimes roughly termed the herd instinct, dictates that individuals feel they are behaving correctly when they act the same as other people. In other words, the more people who follow a certain idea, the better (truer) we deem the idea to be.
What kind of book is the art of thinking clearly about? The Art of Thinking Clearly by world-class thinker and entrepreneur Rolf Dobelli is an eye-opening look at human psychology and reasoning — essential reading for anyone who wants to avoid “cognitive errors” and make better choices in all aspects of their lives.
What is the availability bias in the art of thinking clearly? Availability bias: we create a picture of the world, or construct arguments, based on examples and evidence that most easily come to mind. Counter by spending time with people who think differently than you do. It'll-get-worse-before-it-gets-better fallacy: a variation of confirmation bias.
What is the sunk cost fallacy in the art of thinking clearly? The sunk cost fallacy is most dangerous when we have invested a lot of time, money, energy, or love in something. This investment becomes a reason to carry on, even if we are dealing with a lost cause. The more we invest, the greater the sunk costs are, and the greater the urge to continue becomes.
When was the art of thinking clearly written? The Art of Thinking Clearly is a 2013 book by the Swiss writer Rolf Dobelli which describes in short chapters 99 of the most common thinking errors – ranging from cognitive biases to envy and social distortions.