Don't Trust Your Gut

Using Data to Get What You Really Want in Life

By: Seth Stephens-Davidowitz

Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon

Seth Stephens-Davidowitz is as good a data storyteller as I have ever met.” — Steven Levitt, co-author, Freakonomics

Big decisions are hard. We consult friends and family, make sense of confusing “expert” advice online, maybe we read a self-help book to guide us. In the end, we usually just do what feels right, pursuing high stakes self-improvement—such as who we marry, how to date, where to live, what makes us happy—based solely on what our gut instinct tells us. But what if our gut is wrong? Biased, unpredictable, and misinformed, our gut, it turns out, is not all that reliable. And data can prove this.

In Don’t Trust Your Gut, economist, former Google data scientist, and New York Times bestselling author Seth Stephens-Davidowitz reveals just how wrong we really are when it comes to improving our own lives. In the past decade, scholars have mined enormous datasets to find remarkable new approaches to life’s biggest self-help puzzles. Data from hundreds of thousands of dating profiles have revealed surprising successful strategies to get a date; data from hundreds of millions of tax records have uncovered the best places to raise children; data from millions of career trajectories have found previously unknown reasons why some rise to the top.

Telling fascinating, unexpected stories with these numbers and the latest big data research, Stephens-Davidowitz exposes that, while we often think we know how to better ourselves, the numbers disagree. Hard facts and figures consistently contradict our instincts and demonstrate self-help that actually works—whether it involves the best time in life to start a business or how happy it actually makes us to skip a friend’s birthday party for a night of Netflix on the couch. From the boring careers that produce the most wealth, to the old-school, data-backed relationship advice so well-worn it’s become a literal joke, he unearths the startling conclusions that the right data can teach us about who we are and what will make our lives better.

Lively, engrossing, and provocative, the end result opens up a new world of self-improvement made possible with massive troves of data. Packed with fresh, entertaining insights, Don’t Trust Your Gut redefines how to tackle our most consequential choices, one that hacks the market inefficiencies of life and leads us to make smarter decisions about how to improve our lives. Because in the end, the numbers don’t lie.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

Interesting and useful

Interesting and specific! What does and doesn't actually make a difference. Neighborhoods matter for children, exposure matters for artists, outdoors matters for happiness. Most books just offer general fluff, so it was interesting to see data-driven information on specifically what to do and what not to do in various arenas.
However, I do wonder how strong the evidence is for some of the claims. For example, the author maintains that data shows that sexual compatibility has zero impact on how happy people are in a marriage. That seems dubious. I wonder if that finding could be replicated outside of one study.

Very Interesting and informative

I really liked this book.
Its very refreshing to actually here about data driven information and advice based on that.

Insightful even for a data-minded person

I’m a Data Scientist by trade, and I think about many of these topics frequently, but Seth has still opened my mind in a number of ways.

Not as good as “Everybody lyes”

I was impressed with previous book by this author and was waiting for another great book from him that will be also based on data. This book despite being not bad overall in my opinion is not as good as the previous one and I didn’t have that level of enjoyment while listening to it. The first one though I will probably listen again in future
I would recommend this book only for people who are still trying to find their significant other, because big part of the book is about it

SSD does it again

Like mark manson, Stephens-Davidowitz has penned a must-read kinda-sorta self-help book that relies on the humor of the human condition to drive the work.

Stephens-Davidowitz's angle is analytical science vs the former's philosophical approach to why we think we make better, more thoughtful decisions than in actual reality.

The audio format is expertly read by the author which gives a refreshingly informal university lecture feel to the work. the jokes come at appropriate times and one can imagine the author laughing at his own findings while tapping on his keyboard.

if you're on the fence, get over said fence and buy this!