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Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions | 
 enlarge | Author: Dan Ariely
Publisher: HarperCollins
Category: Book
List Price: £8.99
Buy New: £3.00
You Save: ?5.99 (67%)
New (30) Used (11) from £2.86
Rating:  reviews
Sales Rank: 1656
Media: Paperback
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5 x 1.3
ISBN: 0007256531
EAN: 9780007256532
ASIN: 0007256531
Publication Date: March 5, 2009
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Why do smart people make irrational decisions every day? The answers will surprise you. Predictably Irrational is an intriguing, witty and utterly original look at why we all make illogical decisions.
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| Customer Reviews:
Fun popular psychology aka behavioural economics June 17, 2010
AK (London)
Ariely does a good job of writing a readable account of some popular psychology, riding the current buzz of behavioural economics. The two good aspects of the book in my opinion are the strong belief in the experimental method and the amusing examples used.
So if you are new to the field and want a relatively easy introduction, without the need to understand complex psychological phenomena, Arieli is likely to be a good choice. The examples have been carefully chosen to cover the most common / interesting examples from everyday life and it was written primarily with an Anglo-Saxon (and within that tilt to American) audience in mind.
I assume that few readers who are seriously interested in either behavioural economics or psychology more broadly will read Ariely for anything more than amusement value, so a four star rating is in order. For a reader looking to understand the mechanisms described in more depth, or potentially to design policies taking the principles described into account, the book is likely to fall short. In some cases Ariely does not provide sufficient detail to allow the reader to draw their own conclusions on the validity of the experiments described, in others he simplifies / does not do a thorough enough due dilligence on the cases provided (the taste example with Coke and pepsi being one case) to be able to provide the reader with a reasonable answer. While this is unlikely to detract much from the readability in general, some more academically minded readers might start doubting other cases where he provides little info as well.
As far as writing goes, an easy 50 pages could be saved if the book did not often adopt the game show style of building the suspense before providing the relatively obvious answers - something that starts grating towards the end.
All in all a 5/5 for using mechanisms to get as wide a readership as possible for some very sound concepts, and perhaps a 3/5 in actually adequately bringing across necessary scientific rigour or drawing conclusions, which will get readers to act differently.
 Great initially but gets a bit repetitive June 13, 2010
Tom in Malvern (UK)
This books grabs from the start. Interesting behavioural research, and very accessible. But like Freakonomics, it is a subject that does not require a full book to get the message across. Also, although an interesting read, I am not sure what I will now do with this new insight in my own and others' behaviour.
An interesting point of view April 27, 2010
T. Alberto
A really interesting view on the hidden forces behind the human being. Really easy to read and very enjoyable
Sceptical, but forewarned April 22, 2010
I. N. Terry (Worcester, UK)
On looking at the host of endorsements for this book I felt sceptical and sensed a strongly US feel about the approach. After reading it I was initially impressed and intrigued by the insights but wondered whether the methods would stand up to a rigorous scientific peer-review.
I was left with a concern that I could be so easily manipulated, without my knowledge, by the comercial forces that use this approach to their marketing and advertising.
So I now feel better prepared to understand how I could be manipulated and how to resist it... I hope!
Loved it April 14, 2010
S. Patel (London)
Really enjoyed reading the book and learnt a lot while doing it - Well written and well researched. Much better than Malcolm Gladwell, in my opinion.
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