Starting to Read "Thinking, Fast and Slow": Why Do We Often Act Like Our Brains Are Full of Water?
Have you ever had these experiences?
You buy something and immediately regret it, thinking you must have been out of your mind.
You go all-in on a stock during a rally, only to become the "bag holder" at the peak.
You've made a weight loss plan a hundred times, but the next day you still can't resist ordering fried chicken.
We always think we're rational, that our decisions are the result of "careful thought." But the truth is: we think we're rational, when in fact we're just being fooled by our own brains.
If you're curious why this happens, I recommend reading this book "Thinking, Fast and Slow" along with me.
I have both the English e-book (on my e-reader) and the Chinese paperback (on my home bookshelf). They've been sitting there for a long time, and each time I've only flipped through part of it without finishing the whole book.
This time, I've made up my mind to finish reading this book over the next month or two. The audiobook is nearly 30 hours long—if I spend an hour or two daily, I might finish in a month. If not, then two months it is.
Who Is the Author?
The author of this book is Daniel Kahneman.
How impressive is he?
Kahneman won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2002.
You might wonder: the Nobel Prize in Economics, awarded to a psychologist?
That's exactly what makes Kahneman remarkable—he was the first psychologist to win the Nobel Prize in Economics.
Before him, economics had an important "rational man" assumption: that humans are always rational and make optimal decisions.
But Kahneman's decades of research showed that humans are far less rational than they think.
His research combined psychological experiments with economic theory, creating an entirely new field: behavioral economics.
In his early career, Kahneman taught at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and spent 14 years with colleague Amos Tversky, studying the patterns of human decision-making through statistical methods.
In the end, both received the Nobel Prize for their "systematic research on human decision-making behavior."
What Does This Book Cover?
"Thinking, Fast and Slow" summarizes Kahneman's decades of research with a core insight: the human brain has two thinking systems.
The author calls them System 1 and System 2.
System 1: Fast, automatic, intuitive, requires no effort. For example, you instantly know that "2 + 2 = 4," and when you see someone is angry, you immediately move away.
System 2: Slow, deliberate, energy-consuming. For example, doing three-digit multiplication or planning a travel route for year-end.
The problem is: System 1 is too "automatic," leading us to often mistake our intuitive judgments for rational ones.
There's a classic example in the book:
▎A bat and ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?
Many people immediately answer: $0.10.
But the correct answer is: $0.05.
This is System 1's "trap"—it gives answers quickly, but they're often wrong.
Why Should You Read This Book?
You might ask: why do I need to know this?
Because we make decisions every day. Which phone to buy, whether to change jobs, whether to start a business, even what to eat today...
And most of the time, we think we're using System 2 to "think rationally," when in fact System 1 is driving on autopilot.
The greatest value of reading this book isn't to turn you into "an emotionless machine," but to help you realize:
- Your intuition often makes mistakes
- Some "careful thought" is actually System 1's self-deception
- Learn to "wake up" System 2 at critical decision points
This Is Also Why I'm Reading This Book
I previously read "Influence" and learned about the tactics of compliance and persuasion. Now, reading "Thinking, Fast and Slow," I want to understand—why do we know so many truths but still can't live our best lives?
Perhaps the answer lies in these two thinking systems.