How we decide

I have mixed feelings about this volume. On one hand, there were sections where I was really enjoying the text and making some notes for myself. On the other, there were yawning chasms of text that seemed formulaic and hardly new. I also had to contend with consecutive chapters that seemed to

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contradict one another (don't listen to your rational, prefrontal cortex - no wait, do listen). And maybe that was a central point, but I began begging the author to throw me a bone and put some semblance of a framework around all of the studies and examples. Eventually, he did a little of that in the last chapter - giving me a handful of guidelines for how to think about thinking and making decisions.

The book is very readable, and there is more than a kernel of interesting information here. But overall I still find it lacking in the "make sense of it all" department.

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This is a FUN book; I read it in a day, because I couldn't put it down. I got into a groove and kept reading.

Lehrer writes very well! His stories - many or most taken from interviews that he conducted - are spellbinding and illustrate well his theses: That our brains have evolved both a slower, but

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more "creative" rational way of making decisions, and a faster, "parallel-processing" emotional way of making decisions.

While we have no conscious way of knowing exactly how our emotional side is processing a decision, we can, after-the-fact, be aware of the accompanying feelings and use our rational side to shape the final outcome.

The trick is to know which decisions are best shaped by our rational side, and which are best left to emotion, but here Lehrer gives concrete suggestions in the final chapter, all of which are based on much of the current research and thinking in neuroscience (as is the whole book). I believe the suggestions given are practicable; I have already applied a few when I have become stuck with a few decisions recently, and had fun doing so.

I recommend this book highly! Not only will you enjoy it, you will learn, in an entertaining way, about the still evolving neuroscientific research into how our brains make decisions.

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To say that this book is essential, is putting a great deal of pressure on a slim volume. But if you need a book that can really tell you how to lead a better, happier life, this book is much closer to the mark than all the books filled with cheerful aphorisms.

With the use of fMRI machines, brain

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scientists can see directly what parts of our brains are active while people are contemplating different puzzles. It is not the simple dichotomy of emotion and reason, but many different systems, such as face recognition subroutines, that form the decision making part of the brain. The best use of the brain's power is knowing when the analytical part needs to be in control (such as calculating the worth of a hand of cards in poker) and when the emotional part needs to be in control (telling when another poker player is bluffing). But it is not enough to know when to rely on reason or instinct. Your instinct is best guided by years of unconscious observation. And your reason should be guided by knowing (and being honest about) the parameters that lead you to a decision. Good decisions come from analyzing past mistakes. If we know the errors that human brains are prone to (loss aversion and certainty rewards), we can better allow for these simple mental biases. If we conscientiously watch how our mind works, we can come to better conclusions that will make us happier.

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As I am not a scientist like some other reviewers, I found this book to be quite enlightening. It was well-written and entertaining, as well.Things I learned:People need to use both rational thought and emotion to make the best decisions.We need to make our own mistakes because that is how our

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brains get rewired not to do it again. Emotions turn mistakes into educational events and then use those lessons unconsciously.We get cranky when we're hungry and tired because the prefrontal cortex is the first to lose energy and consequently the ability to suppress negative emotions. Teenagers are more impulsive because the prefrontal cortex is also the last part of the brain to develop, and ADHD happens when kids' brains are slow to develop.Abuse is repeated among generations because abused children's brains are permanently damaged/fail to create the appropriate connections and never mature morally.Rationality can be a liability when it leads to rationalization. Embrace uncertainty: entertain competing hypotheses and remind yourself of what you don't know.Difficult decisions (those with numerous factors involved) are best made by taking in all the facts, sleeping on it, and ultimately relying on your feelings. "Even when you choose to ignore your emotions, they are still a valuable source of input."

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Entertaining, informative, and educational. (note to self to write more when life calms down)

Love to think about how the brain thinks? You'll enjoy this book with great stories and thought-provoking ideas.

Found this in the "fast reads" section of the library right after listening to the Moral of the Story show on CBC ideas, which also discussed parts of the brain involved in making moral decisions. There is one chapter on that in this book. The book simplifies brain science, and if I may further

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oversimplify, there are basically two ways to evaluate the world and then make decisions: rationally, and emotionally. But despite many centuries of honoring the rational and denigrating the emotional sides, making decisions entirely using the rational parts of your brain is often a terrible idea.

I really like a number of quotes and analogies in this book, and being exposed to new ideas and research:
"Anyone can become angry - that is easy," Aristotle wrote. "But to become angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way -- that is not easy." That requires some thought.
Dacher Keltner, talking about how people with power who become socially isolated: "The experience of power might be thought of as having someone open up your skull and take out that part of your brain so critical to empathy and socially appropriate behavior. You become very impulsive and insensitive, which is a bad combination."
On the importance of dissenting opinions and ideas (in decision-making) he quotes Alfred P Sloan, then chairman of General Motors, adjourning a board meeting soon after it began: "Gentlemen, I take it we are all in complete agreement on the decision here... Then I propose we postpone further discussion of this matter until our next meeting to give ourselves time to develop disagreement and perhaps gain some understanding of what the decision is all about."

Unfortunately (but perhaps realistically given the nature of the science) there is only a bit of concrete help in this book on how to make better decisions.

Highly recommended to non-fiction readers.

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This book was just the right mix of information and entertainment to make it a fun read. However, I agree with some of the other reviewers that the author sacrifices scientific rigor in order to make the content accessible.

The one thing I really like is that the author creates descriptive and

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engaging analogies to describe what is going on in the brain (i.e. the brain is like the cockpit of an airplane, with humans and computers catching each other's mistakes; the brain is like a group of newspaper editors debating over which presidential candidate to endorse, etc.). I wish all science textbooks contained analogies like these.

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An enjoyable book that systematically goes through the advantages and disadvantages of using our emotional brains and rational thought (pre-frontal cortex) to make decisions. He obviously ends with the idea that people should study their own thinking processes and learn to see how they make

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decisions to know when to lean more on the more appropriate side of the brain to make the best decision.

As a whole the book is a good systematic approach on the subject matter, but the author still makes some arguments along the way that are not directly attributed to any scientific evidence. He simply refers to evolutionary hypothesis of brain growth and processes without any research to back it up.

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This book is an entertaining summary of the neuroscience behind human decision making. Lehrer fills the book with lots of vivid stories of airline pilots, athletes and military personnel making split-second decisions as well as other examples of people making very poor decisions and even the

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effects of damaged minds on decision-making (including a chilling chapter on psychopaths). Decisions are examined by what part of the brain they work from and how different areas of the brain can work against one another. Some counterintuitive conclusions are explained such as that one cannot make decisions without emotions and that in some cases the more one examines the options the odds of making the right decision are decreased. A good book for getting to know one's brain better.

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Jonah Lehrer is a journalist with a penchant for neuro-research. He approaches the topic of decision making from an understanding of thought, feeling, and anatomy. A fascinating read that might provide some explanation as to why students procrastinate, why it is so easy to put off research (or

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lesson planning, or whatever you wish to put in the blank).

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Very interesting explanation of the biological process that humans/primate brains use to arrive at large and small everyday decisions. Lehrer does an admirable job of incorporating a lot of scientific research into an enjoyable and easy to digest book. He methodically debunks the longstanding

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assumption that decisions based primarily on emotion are inherently bad and uses a wealth of real world accounts to illustrate the concepts he is presenting. You definitely don't have to be a scientist or mental health professional to benefit and appreciate this book--a definite recommend.

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Great, entertaining, not too scholarly book on how humans think- using rational thought and emotion. The science was related to real life experiences- like a pilot making a split second decision on how to land a disabled plane- how quarterbacks decide who to throw too- how gamblers become addicted-

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all in engaging style

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A look at the physiological and psychological process of decision making, from the simple to the complex. Replete with examples, and well written, this book is thought provoking as well as highly engaging and almost impossible to put down. While I may not make better decisions for having read this

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book, at least I have a better understanding of how - and why - I make the decisions I do. I've passed this book along to two people already, who have also both loved it. Well recommended.

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This is one of the best non-fiction books I've ever read.

This book, along with others by Freud, Malcom Galdwell, Hawking and Kennedys' Profiles in Courage etc etc, desperately need to be tied into the public school curriculum, along with courses on critical thinking, psychology and sociology,

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instead of being left for universities.

People need to get a basic understanding of why they make decisions. In the age of entitlement and egos, these subjects will teach people humility, and make them recognize their decisions are made based on so many variables out of their control.

The world would be a better, and a whole a lot safer, place if people understood the underpinnings of their opinions/biases, and truly respected the opinions of others by analytically approaching argument and decision making, using critical thinking and scientific fact proved out in books such as Lehrers.

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The book feels like a set of cobbled together articles but it is much more than a sum of the parts. Lehrer shows why human decision making is such a successful ( but flawed ) activity in the interplay between the evolutionarily older and newer parts of the brain.
He enhances the readability by

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including first had accounts of, for example, the frontal cortex ( modern brain ) dealing with an unfamiliar dangerous situation ( piloting a damaged airliner ) by overriding instinct and applying knowledge of physics. There is also a fascinating discussion of Gerald Tesauro's TD-Gammon backgammon playing program that rewires itself on expectation vs outcome in a similar way to the brain's neurons.
A good sister volume is John McCrone's "Going Inside" (no personal interest). It's more on the medical research side but both books are enormously interesting, not least for the implications for A.I.

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Lehrer makes the subject matter entertaining and approachable. He's a very good storyteller. For those not versed in Social Psychology, Behavioral Economics, or Cognitive Neuroscience, this book is a great introduction to a lot of things everyone should know about the inner workings of the human

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brain. This isn't some abstractly interesting science, this is science that has deep ramifications for the way you live your daily life. Whoever you are, you should know this stuff.

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Great book. He oversimplifies the science, but this is expected in a book that is intended for the general public. I really enjoyed his anecdotes and the data that were included to illustrate each point. I recommend this for anyone that enjoys learning about the brain (scientist or not).

Fantastic book, really distilled a lot of the research in the field into very easy to understand stories..would highly recommend to anyone interested in the field./

Too much overlap with the behavioral economics books (of which I've read too many). But the neuroscience focus makes it different enough to be worth reading anyway.

This is an excellent summary of the decision making process based on current neuroscience.

This is an excellent example of the popular science genre. It combines accessible scientific insight with copious pertinent experiments and illustrative case studies to make its subject easy to understand and to apply. By demonstrating the different categories of decisions we make (routine

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calculations, aesthetic choices, moral judgments, purchasing decisions, etc.) and linking these to the specific brain regions that influence and direct our choices, Lehrer suggests ways in which we can consciously select the best approach to avoid errors.

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A good look at the inner workings of the human decision-making apparatus, right down to the neurological level. Lehrer provides interesting examples to illustrate how a balance of rational and emotional thinking serves us best, which to emphasize in a given situation, and the pitfalls of relying

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overly much on either one. He does a good job of covering the science without swamping the reader in technical detail.

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Fascinating look at how our brains work,and how the evolution of the brain affects both the mistakes we make and the amazing flashes of insight we get. Very readable.