“Which hurricane will kill more people, the one named Maria or Mark? Obviously, there is no difference here. You can name the hurricane whatever you like, especially when this name is chosen randomly by the computer. In reality, however, Hurricane Maria is likely to kill more people. Hurricanes with female names seem less dangerous to people than those with male names, so people take fewer precautions.” Psychologist Richard Nisbett’s brilliant book is full of such striking and paradoxical examples. Analyzing them, the author discovers the mechanisms of the brain, which we never pay attention to. And which, if you know about them, will really help us, as the subtitle of the book promises, to think more effectively, or rather, to assess situations and make optimal decisions in any of them.
Alpina Publisher, 320 p.