Books on thinking have a special attraction to all reflective people who are aware that things to think about are always in plenty but methods of how to think about them are not. This book has been praised justly I think as having ‘a life time’s worth of wisdom’.
Luckily I read the Introduction first. Although the usual habit of dipping into a book and reading random passages is quite strong, Kahneman in the opening pages specifies the two systems by which our brain processes material for decision and action. He calls them System 1 and System 2.They are like two characters that are like a thread woven into the fabric of our thinking. I found this explanation most illuminating and sobering. Illuminating in making me see the categories of thinking I use systemically. Sobering in revealing to me that I was not as rational and as clear a thinker as I thought I was!
While written by an economist, the book is very honest about the limitations of economics and is a very good companion to be read with The Upside of Irrationality by Dan Ariely.
Reviewed on 26 April, 2015