How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer

How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer

This book is about how people make decisions. The book cites many scientific studies on decision making and brain science. Jonah Lehrer focuses on emotions and how they affect our decision making. He argues that emotions are the primary source of decision making. The ability to make the simple choice between yes and no is an emotional one.

We learn about the weaknesse in reason which lead to faulty thinking like spending too much with credit cards; why too much information can lead to bad decisions; and when it is best not to analyze and go with your feelings.

There are many examples of high pressure decisionmaking illustrated in this book; crashlanding an airplane, football quarterbacking, and surviving a forest fire are a few of them. A lot of these decisions are intuitive and analysis of the decisions are made afer they are done.

The book also describes decision making in poker and backgammon where there is both an element of feeling and a certain level of logic. Champion poker players know the odds but they also must be able to bluff and gage their opponents reactions.

I found the book useful. It reminded me that sometimes it is a good idea to let a decision wait a while and not think abut it consciously. I waited a couple days before writing this review.

This book challenges the idea of pure Cartesian logic. It argues that we are in a constant dialogue between our reason and our emotions. This is often not at a conscious level. Our emotions are the startng point. It describes a model of decision making centered in emotions and modern brain science. It also cites one of my favorite books, Descartes Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain by Antonio Damasio.

Jonah Lehrer writes for the Mind Mattrs blog for Scientific American. http://www.scientificamerican.com/section.cfm?id=mindmatters

Daily Thoughts 7/5/2009

CowParade Prague 2004. #002 KNIHOMILKA, Artist: Šárka Vokurková. "Book-lover Cow". The design of the cow is a self-parody of its sponsor, Levné knihy (literally: "Cheap Books") bookstore (LEVNÉ KYDY literally: "Cheap Twaddle").

Daily Thoughts July 5, 2009

Yesterday, I watched Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It was a piece of escapism. I liked the space alien archeologist references. They reminded me of Erich Von Donikens Chariots of the Gods books. The movie was fun to watch. Harrison Ford still did most of his own stunts which surprised me.

There was plenty of flim flam in this movie. All of the real crystal skulls which have been looked at indicate they were created in 19th century Europe. They were not Mayan. Indiana Jones was of course seeking El Dorado where the skull and aliens resided. He had to follow the Nazca lines to get there. I was surprised that they did not make reference to the now debunked theory of ancient hot air balloons over Peru.

The villains were cartoonish kgb agents. One of the agents of course was psychic which was quite slly. In many parts of the film, especially the chase scenes it reminded me a bit of a video game. The best part of the film was when Indiana Jones hid in a lead lined refrigerator to survive a nuclear blast. Silliness at its best. A fun afternoon of free entertainment rented on a dvd from the library.

One of the subjects which many people ask about is the paranormal and the occult in the public library. We get a lot of junior high school and high school students coming in with assignments on big foot, Nostradamus, and psychics. There are also a lot of believers in various ideas from various authors like Carlos Castaneda, Sylvia Browne (television psychic), and Edgar Cayce. I try to be as neutral as possible with these questions because you don't know why they are asking for these books.

Watching films like The Da Vinci Code can be useful because many people at least partially believe the stories behind the films. They want to know about The Knights of Malta, Opus Dei, the Masons, and other groups. Often after films like this one we get spikes in requests on occult material. Popular entertainment at least partially drives the purchase of this material. It also often causes controversy which attracts people to reading about it. It is good to remember the public library is supposed to be a neutral institution not supporting specific religious and philosophical viewpoints. The library is a government institution and the separation of church and state can and sometimes does come up as an issue.

Some of this material has made me a fan of James Randi, the author and magician who debunks psychics and mystics. I may believe in certain phenomena, but I also sometimes feel it is necessary to protect yourself from being too gullible. He explains how fakery and flim flam happen. He is also a very entertaining speaker. His book The Mask of Nostradamus: The Prophecies of the World's Most Famous Seer is quite popular.

We also get quite a bit of other practical books of psychology which can cross over a little bit into mysticism. One of my favorite books in this category is The Relaxation Response (Paperback) by M.D. Herbert Benson (Author), and Miriam Z. Klipper (Author) which is about meditation from a scientific standpoint. Some people consider this material to be religious which can be surprising. Being polite is very important around other peoples beliefs. Even things like books on yoga floor exercises can be considered religious by people.

I finshed reading How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer. It is an intriguing book. This book definitely deserves a review. It says many things which are counterintuitive about how decisions are made. I liked the discussions about poker, strawberry jam, flight simulators, and having too much information in decision making. Right now, I am pondering how I will review the book.

Daily Thoughts 7/3/2009

Self Portrait of William Hogarth with A Pug Dog

Daily Thoughts 7/3/2009

Librarian temporary tattoos. http://www.epartyunlimited.com/the-illustrated-librarian-temporary-tattoos.html

I am off today because July 4,2009 falls on a Saturday. It has been very relaxing so far. I watched The Librarian Curse of the Judas Chalice on dvd. The Librarian is a hero who works in a secret repository of mystical objects. He must retrieve mystic objects and prevent them from falling into the hands of evil.

This film was appropriately silly. The hero goes on vacation and gets pulled into a romantic interlude in New Orleans, Virginia. At the same time, he must recover the Judas Chalice which will resurrect dead vampires.

There are numerous historical references to Vlad Tepes and various cryptic gimmicks like a coin with a secret code on it to keep the story going. The Librarian makes references to things in books when he needs to show how he succeeds in a specific piece of knowledge. He even makes a reference to Houdini when he escapes being tied up.

This is an afternoons escape. It is a mix of adventure, heroism, and romance with vampires. There is no swearing, no explicit content, the romantic lead is well done and appropriate.

I am about half way through reading How We Decide. It is the brain science of decisions. Concepts like loss aversion, short term versus long term thinking, and high stress decision making are explained in terms of brain science. The book explains a lot about how decisions are made. I can understand exactly why I don't have a credit card now.

Daily Thoughts 7/2/2009

Walter Crane a book illustrator.

Daily Thoughts 7/2/2009

Today was a pleasant day. I spent more time weeding the 700s, the oversize 700s, and the mystery. I also took some time to look through Library Journal online at their review section. I am pretty much caught up with my ordering for this month. There should be some interesting titles coming in.

Tomorrow is vacation time. I picked up a few books to read as well as some dvds. I am looking forward to reading Mucho Mojo by Joe Lansdale. I also plan on watching The Librarian 3: Curse of the Judas Chalice on dvd over the weekend.

I started reading How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer. It is about the decision process. The book reminds me a little bit of Descartes Error by Antonio Damasio. It posits that emotions are extremely important in decision making, and that we are more of an emotional being than a rational one. I know this is true of myself.

Web Bits

Barbara Genco has joined Library Journal as its editor of collection development. I think this will be a big improvement in their coverage of selecting materials. http://www.lisnews.org/barbara_genco_joins_library_journal_editor_collection_management