TOW #16 - Predictably Irrational - IRB first half impressions

Freakonomics is a book about human nature. More specifically, it is about the irrationality that is inherently present in human nature, and how it can be studied, predicted, and from there, hopefully avoided. It is by Dan Ariely, an israeli American professor of psychology and behavioral economics. The books first half by and large examines how humans have an inherent difficulty in making truly rational comparisons. When our mind is met with a comparison, we do not understand how to filter out some small details that may appear completely unrelated to the situation. We cannot make the connection soemtimes, and we can use that to examine our own patterns of thinking and dismantle and examine every inch of our reasoning in an attempt to find that and make ourselves more logical people in that regard. He uses many different studies and other sceintific endeavors and obesrvations to support the claims that he makes, as well as personal anecdotes, and even more research. These all go a long way to legitimizing his points about human behavior, especially some of the studies being double blind and some not, so as to show the difference in results when human nature can interfere in with the results as opposed to not being involved at all. In fact, the use of this meta-data truly goes a long way to proving both his premise and his conclusion - that we are irrational, and that irrationality is predictable.