John Wiley & Sons,
Inc. The human mind is not very good at processing information so we use short cuts. Unfortunately the short cuts cause lots of errors and may lead to significant and serious but overlooked errors. This 242-page book summarizes the decades of decision-theory research on the biases and errors in processing information that have been shown to occur regularly and in a lawful manner across people. It may be hard to read for those who trust in intuitive strategies and pseudoreasoning and remain unaware of rationality. The book has 11 chapters, and two appendices. One of the appendices contains the answers to puzzling questions the author poses throughout the book for the readers to respond to. These short thought puzzles illustrate and clarify the particular bias or error being presented. There is also a useful index. The author attempts to relate the Freudian concept of the unconscious mind to the demonstrated fact that we think irrationally and seem to prefer the continuous errors we make. It is not necessary to invoke this concept, but once having put the error habit into the unconscious, the author forgets it and goes on to do a good job of describing the most frequent irrational strategies and biases that permeate our thinking. He uses the model of tunnels to give the reader a way to conceptualize how the erroneous reasoning works to limit our awareness of information. What is most positive about this book is that the concepts and the research results are put in terms that can be readily understood by persons not trained in research or who are not familiar with decision theory. It can be read with benefit by anyone interested in improving the quality and accuracy of the decisions made. Several of the specific errors in rational thinking are directly applicable to the justice system and the decisions made there. Judges, attorneys, and mental health professionals who are involved in decisions that markedly affect the lives of many individuals would do well to study carefully this book or one like it to improve their own sense of competence in doing the job expected of them. Reviewed by Ralph Underwager, Institute for Psychological Therapies.
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