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6/28/2009

Nudge by Thaler and Sustein

I am so glad that I read Thaler text book "Into Thin Air" (review, highly recommended) before I read Thaler authored "Nudge". Thaler is a great teacher and professor, but he is no author. While Nudge started off with some solid examples, it ultimately tailed off badly as it ventured into how to help society with academic research.

I guess I now have to appreciate an author like Malcolm Gladwell who only writes about the research (as opposed to administering it like Prof Thaler) and writes well. Made "Outlier" (review, recommended) that much better/ easier/ more fun to read...

If you must read the book, I'd recommend the first few chapters and lay off the later sections as it discusses how to nudge the public in areas such as savings, social security, health care, marriage, etc. It has some pretty neat examples of how to encourage people to do the right thing. And that's where the neatness ends too.

Not really recommended.

2 comments:

Justin said...

I bought and read Into Thin Air after seeing your recommendation. It was indeed an awesome read.

Which edition did you read? Did you read about "The Climb"?

Josekin said...

I didn't read The Climb after reading the section on it in "Into Thin Air"