The Art of Choosing

This is the problem with theories and hypothesis, the author can spend an entire book harping upon one point and in the process taking away the beauty of the point. This happens with most 'one point agenda' books like those of Taleb and Freidman.
The reader is smart and his time is valuable. "we get it !" and usually in the first chapter itself. So why drag it over 300 pages , why not bring in new theories ?

It would have been a great book, if it had not been a book but a chapter in a book of 50 such theories.

If you are a pschology fan then this is a must read. I will also recommend this book highly to anyone who is keen to learn about decision making. I think this book will particularly help leaders who often end up in complex situtations that demand wise decision making.

Sheena Iyengar begins with explaining the influence of the strict Sikh traditions and the liberal Amercican culture on her as she grew up in the US. She then comes to sensitive issue of marriage and partner selection and explores the reasons for people in arranged marriages ending up happier than the ones in love marriage. She digs deep into the Western and Eastern philosophies and also touches the famous Rene Descarte statement - I think, therefore I am. Furthermore, she discusses why the US has capitalism while China has communism and why religious people are happier than atheists even though religious people are bound by greater restrictions and have less choices. She then focusses on innovation and entrepreneurship and explores the role of choice in making the US such a hotspot in these fields.

In last few chapters of the book, she explains that sometimes greater number of choices can become a problem. Still, she explains, we need a minimum number of choices to be satisfied. In one chapter, she mentions the famous scene from the film The Matrix where the protagonist has to choose between the red pill and the blue pill. She goes on to discuss the importance of the number 7. Have you ever wondered why there are the 7 wonders, the 7 seas, the 7 ages of a man, the 7 primary colours, the 7 notes of the musical scale, the 7 days of the week ?

Sheena Iyengar does a careful analyisis of the impact of having excess choice and not having it at all on humans. In the end she concludes that although choosing can be improved greatly by scientific analysis, at the core it remains an art and hence the name of the book. It amazes me how a blind lady could do such a tremendous research work. She spent months in Japan, Germany and other parts of the world for her PhD thesis. Hats off to this courageous lady.

This book is remarkable for its perception. The author is a well-known psychologist and has presented lucidly the findings of many research projects. It is unbelievable that the author is visually challenged and yet has been able to present this chef-doeuvre.

The rich and wide experience of the author comes out clearly in the book.On reading the book, one gets enlightened about what factors favour better decision-making and what factors hinder the same. Though we are generally conditioned to believe that avalability of more options is always conducive to proper decision-making, this book demolishes this universal myth and explains the significance of optimality in the number of options. The author gives illustrations from many fields like economics, sociology etc.

This book is a mandatory reading for anyone who desires to know how logical we are. Readers must be prepared to let go many of their false assumptions on human behaviour. The book is easy to read and difficult to put down once started.

now plant that date seed you ate yesterday in your garden and try for the growth of it...????
not possible..
ok it takes certain conditions and environment for it to turn into a sprout.
lly after reading the book, we simply cant assess that can i take my decisions cautiously/consciously..its a research oriented knowledge on human decision making which provides you with right "conditions and environment" when the right time comes for your decision making in real life.
i strongly believe that life is all about choosing.
so if you are into something unknown and try to understand something called life scientifically/psychologically this book is an add on..
definitely not only for business.

If I ask, do we have good or bad thinking than we have to be philosophical to find the answer.

If I ask, do new depths are good or bad.. one answer will be be a question , depth of what.. ??

And this is the real work of Dr. Sheena here, to try to touch the very basic borderlines of thinking.

Just by asking questions she want to get the answers.. and the questions are not planned.. questions are random, like art.. like thoughts... and to get a pattern in those thoughts in them of behavior is real work.. real research..

This work guides us to observe the real shape of fluid.