The Upside of Irrationality

“Why are we always making less than rational decisions? A new book by Dan Ariely explores how people embrace the irrational.” The Daily Beast reviews professor Ariely’s latest work: “Dan Ariely’s wonderfully readable new book, The Upside of Irrationality, explores this and other fascinating examples of the less-than-rational ways in which we actually make decisions. Ariely, a professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke, delved into the negative effects of biases in decision making in his bestselling book, Predictably Irrational. He continues that effort here, emphasizing that when it comes to choosing, ‘irrational’ doesn’t have to be a dirty word. If we can understand why we make poor decisions, he argues, we can better plan our own happiness, and in the long term, ‘design the world around us in a way that takes advantage of our incredible abilities while overcoming some of our limitations.'”