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Nudge - book review

It is titled - Improving decisions about health, wealth and happiness, which almost reads Jeffersonian in its ambition.

Written by a couple of Chicago based professors, the book is part about brain architecture and part about some empirical observations/guilt trips, that can help us in our day to day.

It distinguishes the basic brain performance as being automated (or gut based) and calculated (or more rational).  Many of these ideas are also discussed by other essayists like Malcolm Gladwell in his book 'Blink' and each offers additional anecdotes to message the point.

One of the funny ones in this book is about Marriage and Divorce, where it says a second marriage is the triumph of hope over experience.

 It also cites a toy that was developed as an alarm clock that each time you hit snooze would roll off and run away from the bed side thereby making the person who perpetually procrastinated waking up to get up and chase it to shut up.

The book discusses a lot of concepts we encounter in daily life and helps shed light on why people do what they do - e.g. herd mentality, react to choice, or lack of, procrastination, as well as biases.

In the end they somewhat glibly suggest a modicum of mediocrity and follow the middle path as the best step forward.

There are some amazing parallels in the news past few days involving the two extreme views being debated - i.e. Apple not wanting to help the government unlock a phone that belonged to a bad person.  Will a nudge to either side help them meet in the middle?
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