I recently read Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
, by Dan Ariely. This book is well written, and easy to read.
If you think you’re a rational person, read this book as soon as possible. It will help you understand how we are wired and/or conditioned to be irrational, and we typically aren’t even aware of it. This concept can be a bit disheartening, but the good news is that we can fix at least some of this irrationality by being aware of how it can occur and by making a steady effort to compensate for it. The key, it seems, is increasing our awareness and planning to be irrational (this concept is explored in-depth in The Black Swan
as well).
Not only is this book very interesting and enlightening, but I found it to be quite entertaining as well. I would put this one near the top of your reading list.
Finished 7/13/09, Rating: 9/10
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I just finished reading 48 Days to the Work You Love
by Dan Miller. I found this book to be generally helpful and easy to read, but it doesn’t offer anything groundbreaking or terribly enlightening either.
48 Days to the Work You Love will likely help you find inspiration, motivation, and just may spark a few ideas. However, there isn’t much ‘meat’ to the book. It only glosses over these topics at a high level and leaves you still to do the work of figuring out the details and coming up with a plan for finding new work or making money on the side. It offers nothing that you can’t find on hundreds of websites for free, but if you want to spend some money on this book you’ll have it packaged into an easy-to-read, paper format.
If you think that earning an hourly wage, working for someone else is the only way to make a living, you can certainly benefit from reading this book. If you already know that isn’t your only option, and/or you are already earning money on the side, you probably won’t find anything new here. I’d say it’s worth reading if you think you need some help finding a new direction with your work and income. If you already have that part figured out, there isn’t anything else for you here.
Finished reading on 7/15/09, Rating: 7/10
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