Review of The Undoing Project

Michael Lewis

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Editorial Rating

The rating – what does it mean?

At getAbstract, we summarize books* that help people understand the world and make it better. Whatever we select for our library has to excel in one or the other of these two core criteria:

Enlightening – You’ll learn things that will inform and improve your decisions.

Helpful – You’ll take-away practical advice that will help you get better at what you do.

We rate each piece of content on a scale of 1–10 with regard to these two core criteria. Our rating helps you sort the titles on your reading list from solid (5) to brilliant (10). Books we rate below 5 won’t be summarized. Here's what the ratings mean:

10 – Brilliant. A helpful and/or enlightening book that, in addition to meeting the highest standards in all pertinent aspects, stands out even among the best. Often an instant classic and must-read for everyone.
9 – Superb. A helpful and/or enlightening book that is extremely well rounded, has many strengths and no shortcomings worth mentioning.
8 – Very good. A helpful and/or enlightening book that has a substantial number of outstanding qualities without excelling across the board, e.g. presents the latest findings in a topical field and is written by a renowned expert but lacks a bit in style.
7 – Good. A helpful and/or enlightening book that combines two or more noteworthy strengths, e.g. contains uncommonly novel ideas and presents them in an engaging manner.
6 – Notable. A helpful and/or enlightening book that stands out by at least one aspect, e.g. is particularly well structured.
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Qualities

Overview
Engaging
Inspiring

While the rating tells you how good a book is according to our two core criteria, it says nothing about its particular defining features. Therefore, we use a set of 20 qualities to characterize each book by its strengths:

Applicable – You’ll get advice that can be directly applied in the workplace or in everyday situations.
Analytical – You’ll understand the inner workings of the subject matter.
Background – You’ll get contextual knowledge as a frame for informed action or analysis.
Bold – You’ll find arguments that may break with predominant views.
Comprehensive – You’ll find every aspect of the subject matter covered.
Concrete Examples – You’ll get practical advice illustrated with examples of real-world applications or anecdotes.
Controversial – You’ll be confronted with strongly debated opinions.
Eloquent – You’ll enjoy a masterfully written or presented text.
Engaging – You’ll read or watch this all the way through the end.
Eye opening – You’ll be offered highly surprising insights.
For beginners – You’ll find this to be a good primer if you’re a learner with little or no prior experience/knowledge.
For experts – You’ll get the higher-level knowledge/instructions you need as an expert.
Hot Topic – You’ll find yourself in the middle of a highly debated issue.
Innovative – You can expect some truly fresh ideas and insights on brand-new products or trends.
Insider’s take – You’ll have the privilege of learning from someone who knows her or his topic inside-out.
Inspiring – You’ll want to put into practice what you’ve read immediately.
Overview – You’ll get a broad treatment of the subject matter, mentioning all its major aspects.
Scientific – You’ll get facts and figures grounded in scientific research.
Visionary – You’ll get a glimpse of the future and what it might mean for you.
Well structured – You’ll find this to be particularly well organized to support its reception or application.

Review

Michael Lewis – the best-selling author of Liar’s Poker, Moneyball and The Big Short, among others – presents a fascinating overview of the lifelong friendship between, he argues, two of the world’s smartest men: psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky. By focusing on their friendship, Lewis can detail Jewish refugees’ escape from Europe during World War II, the growth of Israel and significant trends in psychology. Lewis’s writing comes alive when he’s describing the ideas these two men produced and how they shaped entirely new ways of thinking about human thought and decision making.

About the Author

Best-selling author Michael Lewis also wrote Liar’s Poker, Moneyball, The Blind Side, The Big Short and Flash Boys.

“Confirmation bias” occurs when the mind embraces only information that it expects and rejects information it doesn’t expect.

Lewis offers a telling example of confirmation bias to bring you into his story. Daryl Morey, the general manager of the Houston Rockets basketball team, worked on creating a statistical model by which he could judge basketball players’ abilities. Morey recognized that when observers notice that a player has one outstanding characteristic, they usually build their entire impression around that characteristic and make their data conform around it, too. This is confirmation bias and, in its grip, Lewis explains, your mind rejects what it doesn’t expect to see and enthusiastically embraces what it does expect to see. Most people aren’t aware when they succumb to confirmation bias, because you innately always expect to have your prejudices confirmed. And because you do, they are.

Lifelong friends Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky shared many commonalities and differences.

Lewis introduces Kahneman as a student of psychology and the son of European Jewish refugees who settled in Israel before it was a state. Kahneman found Gestalt therapy compelling, in that its practitioners seek to understand how the brain creates meaning. The senses collect data from the world, but, Kahneman asked, how does the brain collate and ascribe meaning to all this sensory data?

Read on

Review of The Undoing Project

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Editorial Rating

The rating – what does it mean?

Qualities

Review

About the Author

“Confirmation bias” occurs when the mind embraces only information that it expects and rejects information it doesn’t expect.

Lifelong friends Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky shared many commonalities and differences.

Instant access to over 22,000 book summaries

My Highlights

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Review of The Undoing Project

Looking for the book? We have the summary! Get the key insights in just 10 minutes.

Instant access to over 22,000 book summaries

Editorial Rating

The rating – what does it mean?

Qualities

Review

About the Author

“Confirmation bias” occurs when the mind embraces only information that it expects and rejects information it doesn’t expect.

Lifelong friends Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky shared many commonalities and differences.

Instant access to over 22,000 book summaries

My Highlights

Comment on this recommendation

More on this topic

By the same author

Customers who read this also read

Related Channels

Looking for the book?
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