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There are many books on the market that discuss in detail one element of human psychology. Sway is a quick and enjoyable read. This is one such book that does a wonderful job of exploring how easily humans, all of us, are swayed by the voices and opinions around us. The anecdotes are powerful and help explain how suseptable we all are to this psychological phenomenom. I highly recommmend it. Elisa Roby, author of Pirate Wisdom
If you liked Gladwell's Blink and Outlier's books, then you'll be pulled along happily by Sway. I really enjoyed the storytelling and found the lessons in psychology really insightful. Good work.
I decided to buy the book based in part on the first line on the inside of the book jacket: "Why is it so difficult to sell a plummeting stock." It turns out I was "swayed" by that one line - the book was about decision making, but in a much more general sense than just financial markets. For example, while we might do something for altruistic reasons, we might not do it for compensation. From an investment point of view the most significant take away from the book is the chapter on loss or pain aversion. From an economic perspective, it is interesting to consider how monetary incentives may not perform the way we would expect or hope. In other words, what we expect is often what we get.* Fairness - many decisions we make have more to do with how fair the transaction is than to what the benefit is to us. If you're thinking you'll get analysis of behavioral economics or finance then I can't recommend it, because - unfortunately - there is no focus on those areas.
In fact, the book is mostly full of stories and anecdotes rather than analysis of the ideas in question. The main targets of discussion include: * Pain Aversion -we don't want to experience loss more than we do want to experience gain.* Commitment - it's difficult to change once you've committed to a particular path.* Value Attribution - the worth you place on something is very dependent on our initial impression. I read this book hoping to gain additional insight into the decision-making process. I'm rating Sway 3 out of 5 stars because, while it is interesting to read and people unfamiliar with the subjects may learn something, the book doesn't go into enough depth. Shifting from altruistic to self-interested intentions might even motivate us to not take on the task. If offered compensation, we might lose our altruistic intention and drop from the task completely. Nonetheless, I think any reader will find sways that have impacted them and identifying those may be beneficial.
According to the book, we can approach a task either altruistically or from a self-interested perspective, but not both. Sway is a very easy read, of interest to anyone wanting to know more about people and their behavior. I've personally seen this in action many times and it can lead to bad decisions. The discussion that I found most fascinating, though, looked at how we approach a task. Once we approach something from a self-interested perspective, it takes over our altruistic intentions. This chapter is worth the price if you think you're caught up in that issue, but it is at such a general level it won't do much other than, perhaps, make you aware of the issue.
Concert violinist Joshua Bell playing for the morning rush hour subway commuters, and no one even noticing. The story of the KLM captain who just had to avoid keeping his 747 full of passengers overnight on Tenerife, and the accident that killed everyone on takeoff. There are 3 main story themes in the book regarding some factors that make people behave in initially inexplicable ways, and I'll try to summarize them here: (spoiler alert, below. Why some people will accept a deal worse than 50/50 (they are grateful for any gain despite their partner being very greedy).
Sunk costs fallacies, or desire to avoid incurring losses, even if losses are smaller than potential gains. For those of us who have read many news stories about accidents, tragedies, follies, etc., the conclusions in this book aren't earthshattering. 3. Correction -- there was a short segment about Supreme Court justices, how they form opinions, and the importance of dissent that was fairly interesting. 2.
Differing notions of fairness. The book was a good read for about an hour, but I probably won't come back to it again. Which is a little disappointing that the book can be summed up in these 3 points)1. Or why a TV audience in France will actively try to sink the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire contestant who asks their advice, because they don't feel anyone stupid enough not to know that the Moon goes around the Earth should get a million dollars. Bowing to preconceptions/authority (written, or suggested, or mob) -- why people get misled into believing that something must be good/right if it has a good reputation, despite all evidence to the contrary.
On the flip side, passing up something good because it has no reputation. Those are just my quick take-away points (which are not to say fully comprehensive), and other than that, there are admittedly a few minor side stories and interesting details, but nothing about this book was too memorable or left me mindbogglingly impressed.
The sections in each chapter should have been more clearly defined.If you enjoyed Blink, and books like it, then you'll enjoy this as well. It's as if the authors felt the need to weave a tapestry of thoughts and experiences, perhaps to make the text more fluid.
It fleshes out the idea of what sways our decisions, specifically how we are swayed to make irrational decisions.The authors define irrational as being out of line with well reasoned and logical choices. One reviewer is right, this is a single idea book.
It's a rather meandering course as we are taken from example to example and back again. These are those cases where the pilot takes off without clearance, the woman is tempted to go around a car stopped at a light into oncoming traffic and more.Explored are a handful of factors that do the swaying.
The book doesn't just list them though, nor are they even in bullet points of any sort. I found it distracting.In spite of enjoying the book overall, and honestly, having my eyes opened, this could have been a shorter work The references could have been more on point.
I recommend the paperback.It's also generally an easy read; you won't need a dictionary to get through this.
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