Thinking, Fast and Slow

Explore the two systems that drive the way we think and make choices, as explained by Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman.

Key Takeaways

• We have two systems of thinking: System 1 (fast, intuitive) and System 2 (slow, deliberate)
• Our brains are prone to numerous cognitive biases
• We often substitute easy questions for hard ones
• We're not as rational as we think we are

Summary

In Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman, the renowned psychologist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think.

System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. The impact of overconfidence on corporate strategies, the difficulties of predicting what will make us happy in the future, the profound effect of cognitive biases on everything from playing the stock market to planning our next vacation—each of these can be understood only by knowing how the two systems shape our judgments and decisions.

Kahneman reveals where we can and cannot trust our intuitions and how we can tap into the benefits of slow thinking. He offers practical and enlightening insights into how choices are made in both our business and our personal lives—and how we can use different techniques to guard against the mental glitches that often get us into trouble.