The Undoing Project Michael Lewis

We first hear about Michael Lewis. About his ideas that he might be able to game the NBA draft through statistics. To try and take people's gut feelings out of the picks. He tried his best but did not succeed. However, his ideas all stem from the work of Kahneman and Tversky.

Then comes Daniel Kahneman. We hear about his growing up during WWII. About the way that others describe him, as brilliant but maybe a little odd. He eventually ended up in Israel. 

Last comes a brief biography of Amos Tversky who grew up in Israel and was an acknowledged genius. 

Then comes the overlapping work of Danny and Amos. The two come up with a number of interesting ideas about the ways we make decisions. Their relationship is closer than those that they have with their wives. Their work spans more than a decade and their ideas become so overlapping it is hard to tell who came up with which parts of their papers. They come up with the idea that our decisions may not be as clear cut and based on data as we think they are. But then, the cracks began to appear. First, they move to North America, but not to the same place. They don't argue in the same room anymore. Then, Danny starts to feel like his work is overlooked. And it seems like it is. While Amos never adds to that theory, he never publicly disputes it either. Their work never quite comes together again before Amos dies.

This is a really interesting story that falters a bit at the end. Certainly makes me rethink some of my decision-making processes. 

Four stars

This book came out October 13, 2017

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own