Recently I started reading the book Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman after an entrepreneur recommended it to me. Now the book is a tome packed with anecdotes and research by the author who won the Nobel Price in Economics. The idea is that the mind has two core systems as follows:
- System 1 – the instinctive response that you immediately know (e.g. 2 + 2)
- System 2 – the thinking that goes into a more detailed thought that takes time to answer (e.g. 17 x 12)
Even though Kahneman won the Nobel Price in Economics there’s a significant amount of psychological and human elements that are fascinating with a number of behavioral economics items thrown in as well. As an example, if a person gets the option to flip a coin and can win $13 if they guess right and lose $10 if they guess wrong, they are less likely to take the bet at all due to loss aversion even though the weighted average is clearly in their favor. This applies to the corporate world where people don’t take risks for fear of failure. As for startups, those are the people that like the bet.
If you enjoy psychology and economics I’d recommend the book.
What else? What were your thoughts on the book?
David Cummings on Startups 