Product Description

Every day we make decisions on topics ranging from the personal investments we select to the schools we pick for our children to the foods we eat to the causes we champion. Unfortunately, as authors Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein astutely observe, we don't always choose well. The reason, the authors explain, is that we all are susceptible to cognitive biases and blunders that make us human, fallible, and prone to error. Thaler and Sunstein invite us to enter an alternative world, one that recognizes our humanness as a given. They show that the way we think can be used to our advantage: it is possible to design environments that make it more likely for us to act in our own interests. Using colourful examples from all aspects of life, Thaler and Sunstein demonstrate how 'choice architecture' can be established to nudge us in beneficial directions without restricting the full menu of choices available to us. Nudge offers a unique new take, from neither the left nor the right, on many current issues, and is one of the most engaging and provocative books to come along in years.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #343 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 293 pages

Review
'This book is terrific. It will change the way you think, not only about the world around you and some of its bigger problems, but also about yourself.' --Michael Lewis author of The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game and Liar's Poker

Aditya Chakrabortty, The Guardian, 12th July 2008
"by seizing on 'Nudge' - the Tory party has projected itself as being the one with the fresh ideas."

Catherine Bennett, The Observer, 29th June 2008
"An engaging new book."

Customer Reviews

thought provoking
Really interesting and well written, will hopefully be taken on board by all political parties. Working in the NHS, I can see these ideas as really important for health promotion.Helps explain alot of seemingly irrational behaviours.

Following the herd or not?
The book demonstrates through a series of examples how nudges could influence your decisions on a series of varied subjects: driving, credit cards, organ donations, choice of school, marriage,... Many of those topics are well developed and explained. The style is pleasant and easy to read.

The authors define two keys notions: libertarian paternalism and the opposition between Econs and Humans. Libertarian paternalism covers the ideas that private and public institutions may affect behaviours while also respecting freedom of choice. The default option will be a form of paternalism while the choice will be the libertarian part. Econs are people who "think like Albert Einstein, store as much memory as IBM's Big Blue, and exercise the willpower of Mahatma Gandhi" and Humans are homo sapiens, so simply, every humans on earth.

If you recognise yourself as an Econ, you will probably not learn much from this book. If you think you are a human, the book may draw your attention to good examples of marketing tricks. However, the book is based on examples from the United States and while some are relevant to many nations, some are clearly specific to the authors' country and therefore uninteresting or boring for a non-American reader.

Thought-provoking for anyone who helps other make important decisions
Though there is little in this book that is completely new, it draws together many of the key current ideas on how people make decisions. In particular it shows that people may make very different decisions depending on how information about the decision is presented.

It is illustrated throughout with excellent examples, which brings the book to life.

There is material in this book that I will apply directly in the work that I do in the pensions field. However it is useful in any field where people have difficult decisions to make that may have a huge impact on their life (for example what medical treatment to have, how to invest life savings, what mortgage to take out).

Its key overall theme is that there is no neutral way to present information. We should strive to present it in a way that leads people to make what we believe is the decision that is in their best interest. Paternalism, but with freedom of choice.

This is an excellent book and well worth reading.