Tuesday, September 28, 2010

How We Decide


How We Decide
by Jonah Lehrer [Compact Disc 153.8 Leh]

Freelance writer, Jonah Lehrer moved from the world of writing magazine articles to writing books when he chose to explore how we make decisions. His impetus to examine decision-making came from his inability to decide which cereal to purchase. Lehrer said that he wasted a lot of time in the supermarket aisle trying to choose between apple-cinnamon and honey nut Cherrios. He wanted to learn what went on in his brain as he stood in the store with his hand on the cart staring at the boxes. Lehrer headed off to visit the world of neuroscience where he learned how rational thinking combined with the right amount of emotional input leads to good decisions while decisions made when emotions are silent or overwhelming do not lead to satisfactory results. Lehrer writes in an easy to understand style with many examples from the real world to illustrate his points. [If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Why We Make Mistakes by Joseph T. Hallinan, Sway by Ori Brafman, and The Upside of Irrationality by Dan Ariely.] -- recommended by Donna G. - Virtual Services Department

[Also available in print format.]

[ official How We Decide and Jonah Lehrer web site ]

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide web site. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month.

No comments: