The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds

Writing a positive review of a Michael Lewis book seems like clapping in a crowd of people already clapping -- it is hardly needed as an aid to those wondering if they should buy this book. If you aren't sure yet, I doubt this review can help. Still, I wanted more to express my appreciation than to add one more endorsement. I have a doctoral degree in what is now called decision sciences, were once operations research or statistics. I studied Tversky's and Kahneman's work well before they were famous and even while they were still regarded as marginal, if not a distraction, in decision analysis. So I've been a witness to the trajectory of this material in mainstream scholarship. Kahneman's book (Thinking Fast and Slow) is a compendium of their life's work and although I enjoyed the book, I had read almost all of it in other places over the years. So I wasn't sure what to expect when I bought this book. What I got was the insights of an astute observer who had a ringside seat -- Lewis talking to Kahneman and his colleagues. It's a great story, it grounds the intellectual insights in the personalities and life-experiences of the two researchers, and makes the whole of their insights as a body of work accessible, able to be appreciated as a whole, and even applicable in some ways. There are so many self-help books available on how to be happy or a leader or influential (think of "how to manipulate" books by derivative authors like Cialdini). There are few books on how to be a clear thinker. This is a story about how challenging that is and some tips on how to make progress.

“The difference between being very smart and very foolish is often very small” - Amos Tversky Like most students in college, I changed my major a few times while I tried to discover my calling and by accident, I received a minor in psychology. I found psychology somewhat interesting but I never considered it as a course of study. I only ended up with a minor because I needed two more classes for credit and by taking two extra psychology courses I received the minor. However, I do not recall learning about of Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman during my undergraduate studies. Perhaps their work had not caught on at my university or their work is a bit too advanced for feeble undergraduate minds. Or I did not pay attention, that is a very valid possibility.. I first learned about Tversky and Kahneman reading other books in social sciences, behavioral economics, and the what not. Every time their names emerged, I found their work incredibly interesting. I finally got the courage to read the comprehensive Thinking, Fast and Slow by Kahneman. I was dumbfounded. I felt smart and stupid at the same time. The Undoing Project is not a simple book to describe. It is a book about the great works of Tversky and Kahneman and how their work changed not only psychology but business, sports, military operations, government, etc. But the book is also about the great relationship between these two men. They start as perfect strangers, turn into unlikely friends, and develop into a close working relationship. Micheal Lewis’s writing is riveting. The book feels almost like you are reading a mystery novel. You have no clue where the story is headed but you are very excited to turn the page. This is a great book and easily one of my favorite books this year.

Not a perfect read, and if I could give it 4.5 stars, I would. But given the necessity of choosing between 4 and 5, knowing a 5 will help the book get more readers, I'm giving it 5 stars. This is a worthwhile read for anyone who likes to think. Truly, I'd love to see this book be required reading in high school. The book offers two excellent insights: 1. How people successfully work together as partners in intellectual or academic projects, and what can go wrong in such partnerships if they don't put the partnership above their individual needs. and 2. The common ways people make mistakes in thinking and decision making. The book is as much about the relationship between Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman, as the work they did. Danny Kahneman went on to win a Nobel Prize for the work, after Amos died. Danny also wrote a book about the work, called Thinking, Fast and Slow which is surely worth reading, and gets deeper than this book into the accomplishments Tversky and Kahneman made in decision theory. But "The Undoing Project" is written by Michael Lewis, the author of "Moneyball" and "The Big Short" and is simply a more enjoyable book to read. If you already know something about decision theory, and only want to dig deep into decision theory according to Danny Kahneman, by all means, buy "Thinking, Fast and Slow." If you are not familiar with Kahneman and Tversky, or not familiar with decision theory, get this book. It is fascinating, well-written, and not shallow. There are some chapters that wander a bit, or a paragraph here and there that could have been better edited. Still, absolutely worth your time. Enjoyable and edifying, rare to have both those qualities in a book.

The Undoing Project is the amazing story of the friendship between Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, and how that friendship revolutionized the field of psychology. These two were opposite in nature but shared a mutual understanding in the way of their thinking. Their ideas seem so simple and straightforward, yet until they presented them, no one else had considered them. The book tells the story of how they questioned the conventional thinking and demonstrated the biases that inherent in all of us. The importance of these discoveries is that once identified, they are more manageable and help explain various phenomena. I had heard these two names frequently cited and enjoyed their book "Thinking Fast and Slow" but I was unaware of their unique backgrounds and the story of how they came to meet and other interesting aspects of the relationship. This book is written like Michael Lewis's other books- fast paced, well organized, clear and entertaining and is highly recommended.