Thinking, Fast and Slow

By: Daniel Kahneman

Narrated by: Patrick Egan

The guru to the gurus at last shares his knowledge with the rest of us. Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman's seminal studies in behavioral psychology, behavioral economics, and happiness studies have influenced numerous other authors, including Steven Pinker and Malcolm Gladwell. In Thinking, Fast and Slow, Kahneman at last offers his own, first book for the general public. It is a lucid and enlightening summary of his life's work. It will change the way you think about thinking.

Two systems drive the way we think and make choices, Kahneman explains: System One is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System Two is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. Examining how both systems function within the mind, Kahneman exposes the extraordinary capabilities as well as the biases of fast thinking and the pervasive influence of intuitive impressions on our thoughts and our choices. Engaging the reader in a lively conversation about how we think, he shows where we can trust our intuitions and how we can tap into the benefits of slow thinking, contrasting the two-system view of the mind with the standard model of the rational economic agent.

Kahneman's singularly influential work has transformed cognitive psychology and launched the new fields of behavioral economics and happiness studies. In this path-breaking book, Kahneman shows how the mind works, and offers practical and enlightening insights into how choices are made in both our business and personal lives - and how we can guard against the mental glitches that often get us into trouble.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2011 Daniel Kahneman (P)2011 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“A tour de force... Kahneman’s book is a must read for anyone interested in either human behavior or investing. He clearly shows that while we like to think of ourselves as rational in our decision making, the truth is we are subject to many biases. At least being aware of them will give you a better chance of avoiding them, or at least making fewer of them.” (Larry Swedroe, CBS News)

“A major intellectual event... The work of Kahneman and Tversky was a crucial pivot point in the way we see ourselves.” (David Brooks, The New York Times)

“[Thinking, Fast and Slow] is wonderful, of course. To anyone with the slightest interest in the workings of his own mind, it is so rich and fascinating that any summary would seem absurd.” (Michael Lewis, Vanity Fair)

Unbelievable...

I would have never imagined such a thought process existed. Kahneman does an amazing job in describing the method of behavioral decision making. He breaks it down into two systems, system one and system two, that are responsible for the way we think and make choices. System one being fast, intuitive, and emotional; while system two is slower, more premeditated, and more logical. While listening to the book I began to inquire about my thought process and which system was more dominant in significant decisions I have made to this day.

If you are interested in how you and others make decisions I would highly recommend this book. The knowledge gained is relevant throughout your life time and is an excellent topic of conversation for just about any setting. If you like this review I would advise following through with system one and add this book to cart!

Wonderful ideas. I’m so glad I read this.

He defines two types of thinking. Fast thinking is our intuition. We use it most of the time and it works well most of the time. It doesn’t take any energy. He calls it “System 1."

Slow thinking is doing complicated math problems, or reading and analyzing data to come to a conclusion. He calls it “System 2.” Slow thinking takes energy. It uses glucose. People with less glucose (sugar) in their system aren’t able to think in System 2 as well as when they have glucose in them. Using willpower for one activity uses glucose, leaving less energy for other System 2 activities.

There were many examples and results of studies which amazed me. I learned that when something is really important, do not trust my intuition (system 1 thinking) - spend some time supplementing it with system 2.

Now here’s the bad part:
I listened to this as an audiobook. My mind wandered a lot. I wasn’t paying attention for probably a fourth of the book. The first half was the best. The last half or third seemed to be mostly probability and statistics. For example, if you are here would you choose A or B? But if you are there, your choice would be different. My mind wandered a lot during those parts. But still, I got much out of this book. I think it might be better read as a physical book than listened to, so the mind wouldn’t wander as much. It’s like a textbook. It will take System 2 energy to read and understand everything.

PDF File:
I bought the audiobook from audible which provided a pdf file. That was good because the author referred to the pdf pictures.

EXAMPLES:
Writing Book Reviews:
When watching a play or reading a book, we might feel one way (A) during 90% of the story and feel differently (B) during the last several minutes. Our rating of the book will be mostly the (B) feelings - as if we forgot about (A) feelings. One of the tests related to this was done with pain. The left arm was in ice water for 20 minutes with the final 5 minutes in slightly warmer water with less pain. Then the right arm was in ice water for 10 minutes with full pain at the end. Afterwards the subjects were told to retake the test and they could choose which arm to test. They chose to do the left arm, because they remembered less pain. The left arm had suffered more pain in total - the 20 minutes. (I may have the minutes wrong, but you get the idea.)

Marriage:
Statistics about marriage really stuck with me - surprised me. The last picture in the pdf file shows the results of a survey of respondents who were asked about their satisfaction with life (SL). They were asked this every year during a 9 year period that had marriage in the middle. 4 years before they married SL was 3. It started increasing 2 years before marriage and was 6 at the time of marriage. 5 years after marriage it dropped to 2.

Influencing Judges:
Judges were asked to impose a sentence on a woman for shoplifting. Shortly before they decided, the number 3 or 9 was shown to them from a dice roll. Judges who saw the 9, sentenced the woman to 8 months. Judges who saw the 3 sentenced her to 5 months. (The months are averages.)

Influencing Parole Boards:
More prison inmates were given parole when their case was decided right after the judges had eaten food.

NOBEL PRIZE:
The author is a psychologist but received a Nobel Prize in Economics for his work in prospect theory, about how people make decisions.

AUDIOBOOK NARRATOR:
Patrick Egan did a great job.

Genre: psychology, economics, nonfiction.

Truly enlightening!

Daniel Kahneman explains many of the decisions we make and why we make them. He explains intuition in a way that is clearly understandable, and very reasonable. He does tend to get very technical, and sometimes it gets very slow between the final conclusion, but it is worth bearing through to fully comprehend the final result.

This book is worth reading/listening to, because the information conveyed is worth learning.

How to think like a computer

This is the book to read if you want to know all of the ways your decision making is routinely biased without your conscious knowledge (way beyond when it is simply skewed by emotion). It made me wish my mind actually was more like a computer, if only so that I could download all the content in there and store it - because it was very densely packed with information. One of those books you can only hear for so long before you have to take a break, because your brain feels full. The writing, however, is clear and accessible, which helps.

I do wish they'd found a different narrator. He wasn't the worst, but I was getting VERY tired of his voice and intonation by the end.

Like a salad without dressing

I'm so glad I got this information into my knowledge base, but getting that intellectual nutrition was much like eating a boring but nutritional salad.

Unlike other reviewers, I did like the many examples and stories supporting the ideas. If the ideas were simply stated without the many examples and research data it would be easy to dismiss as silly or ridiculous, they are not instinctive or obvious but I am convinced that they are correct.

Everyone should read/listen to this book. You may not completely enjoy the consumption of the material but you will definitely be glad you took the time anyway.

Sounds like a research paper, but still good!

A very structured, analytical discussion about how the human mind perceives and assesses the world for intelligent decision making. In a nutshell, we operate in two speeds, as indicated by the title of the book. The reading is sometimes dry, but the ideas are refreshing and insightful.

The book's nonlinear organization makes it possible to start at any chapter.Each section is broken down into an explanation of the theory, supporting evidence, and some examples of application in the real world.

On a personal level, reading through the various sections caused me to rethink how I approach certain problems, personalities, and life decisions. The concepts posed by Kahneman help explain why and how people make decisions, and clearly show the bigger implications with multiple examples of everyday life.

Kahneman is no pundit or pop culture author in this area; he has spent his life as an academic and researcher, and has received a Nobel prize for his work.

This is not a fast moving book, so it may drag out a long bike ride or run. That said, sometimes the principles discussed require a short pause to digest, especially if listening while engaged in an activity that requires concentration.

Think intuition is always right? Think slowly!

Where does Thinking, Fast and Slow rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It is very interesting. The idea that rational thought is the lazy hero of the story helps explain a lot.

Who was your favorite character and why?

There are really no characters on this audiobook.

What about Patrick Egan’s performance did you like?

I liked that I can set the speed to three-times normal and still understand him clearly.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Just made me smile a number of times.

Doesn’t translate to Audio well

This book involves a number of visual references for experiments it describes along the way, and as a result those sections aren’t particularly suited to the audiobook format. The books also feels somewhat .. antiquated. A lot of the references to women are regarding their happiness in marriage or in child rearing and he seems to only describes male research collaborators. I’m not trying to dispute the outcomes of his experiments, but it does seem like his experimental subjects were generally (not always) higher ed students, and it makes me question if his 2 system, experiencing/remembering self model of human decision making is simplistic based on narrow groups of subjects repeatedly studied. In any case, the book is lengthy and redundant to the point that I got bored. The narrator didn’t help, but I don’t know if the over-enunciation made things sound high-falutin or if the narrator was just doing his best with the writing. Maybe the book is more interesting in print?

Important and extraordinary

For those willing to make the investment in reading (or listening to) this book, it is life changing. It provides insights into our mental decision making that is usually inaccessible to our consciousness. The author is the only psychologist to win the Nobel Prize in economics. Yes, he’s that good.

amazing book

one of the most important reads to gain insight into our minds. highly recommend it.