Irrationality: The Enemy within: Amazon.co.uk: Stuart Sutherland: Books

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Review

Ben Goldacre, author of Bad Science
Superb! The thinking man's self help book; it left me infinitely wiser, but I know it won't change my behaviour one tiny bit.

Nicholas Lezard, The Guardian
You must buy this book, for every home should have it.

Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion
Extremely gripping and unusually well written.

Oliver Sacks, author of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
Terrifying, sometimes comic, very readable and totally enthralling. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Oliver Sacks

Terrifying, sometimes comic, very readable and totally enthralling. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Customer Reviews

33 Reviews

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4.3 out of 5 stars (33 customer reviews)

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209 of 213 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still the best popular book on this topic, 5 Jan 2008

By	Dr. M. L. Poulter "Bias and Belief" (Bristol, UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Irrationality (Paperback)

This is a wonderful achievement of science popularisation. Sutherland had a gift for succinctly and non-technically summarising psychology experiments. In this book he surveys more than one hundred and sixty different studies that expose failings of human reasoning and judgement. Overconfidence, conformity, biased assessment of evidence and inconsistency are among the follies given their own chapters. One chapter deals with organizational (bureaucratic) irrationality.

The point is not the banal one that there are stupid people about. It is that we all make systematic errors and biases that can lead to disaster in predictable ways. The example applications include reasoning about medical tests, military disasters, the paranormal, the Rorschach test, gambling and daft purchasing decisions.

If society took the recommendations in this book, we would give up job interviews, stop awarding school prizes, totally reform the procedures for criminal trials and change many of the incentive structures we use to motivate people. Each chapter ends with a set of personal lessons for minimising the damage of one's inevitable human irrationality.

This is a potentially very depressing book, but its humiliating lesson is one that, for a better public life and personal life, we need to learn. You can either learn it from a huge corpus of technical psychology literature or from this little paperback.

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93 of 96 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential reading, 19 Mar 2007

By	Ali B (London) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Irrationality (Paperback)

`Irrationality - the Enemy Within' is essential reading for anyone who is interested in developing their thinking skills by becoming more aware of the numerous traps into which we can all so easily fall. The book presents many conundrums about which readers are invited to reach decisions, and time and again, in my own case at least, the correct, rational solution is surprising and enlightening. The twenty-three chapters comprise topics such as `Ignoring the evidence', `Mistaken connections in medicine', `The paranormal'. Each chapter ends with a brief coda headed `Moral' which summarises, often with wit, the main points we need to learn.

This book is scholarly, educational, extremely well written and continually entertaining. I am sure it will be appreciated by anyone who has enjoyed Dick Taverne's `The March of Unreason' - and vice versa.

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113 of 117 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential reading - Changes your way of thinking, 24 Mar 2008

By	Jack Percival (Surrey, UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Irrationality (Paperback)

On reading this book you are a presented with everyday problems and the simply irrational way we make decisions- from leaving the cinema to international travel. This non-technical tale provokes thinking in a way that does not confuse the reader, but keeps them enthralled throughout- always wanting to read the next section.

To give you an idea- here is one of the simple irrationalities presented to us- You've paid to go and see a film, but don't like it- do you leave early? Whilst most people would say no, this book tempts us to say yes and shows us that this the logical way to do things. Essentially do we waste our time and money (and stay in the cinema) or just our money? Surely we should cut our losses and leave, but irrationality shows that in fact we don't we stick around in a way that shows our poor decision making.

Overall, irrationality presents solid arguments in a way thats easy to understand. A fantastic book.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars An essential read for humans
For anyone who deals with human beings in their work or personal life (99.99% of people?)this book is a must. Read more

Published 22 days ago by David Spencer

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book I've read since Fabric of Reality. Better than most others of this genre.
Entertaining, very well written, thought-provoking book. One of those books that every politician or teacher should be forced to read before taking a job. Read more

Published 1 month ago by MarkM

5.0 out of 5 stars Sometimes...
Sometimes you read a book and it just makes you hungry for more books. Rather than just a pleasant reading experience it opens your mind a little and makes you want to know more... Read more

Published 1 month ago by R. Mayne

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good.
This book covers a wide spectrum of human irrationality. This is the way the human mind makes decisions and forms beliefs that when critically analysed seem categorically... Read more

Published 2 months ago by Alex Ireland

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books on the subject
This was the book which got me interested in irrationality.

It is a good read, clearly explaining the various ways in which irrational decisions get made, as well as... Read more

Published 2 months ago by Ransen Owen

4.0 out of 5 stars Enlightening
The book is really enlightening. It's full of real life example that is common to everyone. If for anything it can proof how irrational most of our decisions are. Read more

Published 3 months ago by Jafar Qutteineh

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent and thorough book about human nature
This book discusses a lot of experiments that show different aspects of how people think. And even though it can get a bit too detailed at times, it is an enjoyable read... Read more

Published 3 months ago by Omar

3.0 out of 5 stars Good read.
A very good book examining the irrational decisions people make. It also provides methods on how best to make a rational decision and not fall into the common traps. Read more

Published 4 months ago by Ryopinion

3.0 out of 5 stars A Catalogue of Experiments
Despite the fantastic reviews and endorsements for this book, it seemed to me that each chapter seemed to follow the format of describing psychological experiments and their... Read more

Published 4 months ago by M. Sperrin

4.0 out of 5 stars Caution - this book falls into many of the irrational traps it proports to show.
This book is worth reading even if you do not agree with its conclusion.
The book consists of demonstrating a number of logical flaws prevelent in human thought. Read more

Published 4 months ago by SteveM

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Irrationality: The Enemy within (Paperback)

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