The Art of Thinking Clearly

Today’s non-fiction is “The Art of Thinking Clearly” by Rolf Dobelli and is translated by Nicky Griffin. The cover is plain white with the title in black and the word thinking in red. It is published byHarperCollins and is 359 pages long including notes about further readings from the chapters. The intended reader is adult but anyone over the age of 15 should be fine with this book. There is no language, no sex, and no violence; this book is just about how people think. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- In engaging prose and with practical examples and anecdotes, this eye-opening look at human reasoning is essential reading for anyone with important decisions to make.

Have you ever…

 

·         Invested time in something that, in hindsight, just wasn’t worth it?

·         Paid too much in an eBay auction?

·         Continued to do something you knew was bad for you?

·         Sold stocks too late, or too early?

·         Taken credit for success, but blamed failure on external circumstances?

·         Back the wrong horse?

These are examples of cognitive biases, simple errors we all make in our day-to-day thinking. But by knowing what they are and how to spot them, we can avoid them and make better choices- whether dealing with a personal problems or a business  negotiation, trying to save money or make money, or working out what we do or don’t want in life.

Simple, clear, and always surprising, this indispensable book will change the way you think and transform your decision making at work, at home, every day. In ninety-nine short chapters, The Art of Thinking Clearly reveals the most common errors of judgment and how to avoid them.

 

Review- This is an interesting and informative book. I learned quite a bit about how people think and the most common thinking errors. That said this book is not going to change the way you think in your day-to-day life. Not because Dobelli is not a good writer and not because you, as the reader, cannot make the changes in your life. But more because there is just so much in this book that, I do not think, there is any way that you can apply all these in your everyday life. Dobelli helps the reader understand the concepts that he gives by real world examples or fables. This is a very readable informative book and I enjoyed it. Dobelli’s research is strong and the notes at the end are great for continuing if there is a subject that you are really interested in or just curious about. One thing that I like and dislike about this book is that Dobelli does not give answers about how to fight these thinking errors in every chapter. Some chapters he does and some he does not. This annoys me because I think that if you are smart enough to see a problem then you can talk about how to stop it. And it does not annoy me because I did not agree with his solutions to some of the thinking errors. If you like non-fiction or just brain stuff then give this one a try.

I give this one Four out of Five stars. I received this book from HarperCollins in exchange for an honest review.