Gut Feelings

GUT FEELINGS is a fascinating analysis of how human beings make choices and judgments based on instincts. Author Gerd Gigerenzer explains where these gut feelings come from and talks about the role they play in our decisions about everything from business investments to choosing a mate. The text is peppered with plenty of anecdotes that keep it interesting and relevant. Dick Hill reads these examples with perfect inflection, and he reads the more scientific passages clearly and evenly, making complicated concepts easy to follow. This is a great narration because Hill remains unobtrusive, drawing the listener's attention to the subject matter rather than his performance. With no apparent effort, he makes this book an entertaining and informative listen. K.F. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

May 7, 2007
G
igerenzer's theories about the usefulness of mental shortcuts were a small but crucial element of Malcolm Gladwell's bestseller Blink,
and that attention has provided the psychologist, who is the director of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, the opportunity to recast his academic research for a general audience. The key concept—rules of thumb serve us as effectively as complex analytic processes, if not more so—is simple to grasp. Gigerenzer draws on his own research as well as that of other psychologists to show how even experts rely on intuition to shape their judgment, going so far as to ignore available data in order to make snap decisions. Sometimes, the solution to a complex problem can be boiled down to one easily recognized factor, he says, and the author uses case studies to show that the “Take the Best” approach often works. Gladwell has in turn influenced Gigerenzer's approach, including the use of catchy phrases like “the zero-choice dinner” and “the fast and frugal tree,” and though this isn't quite as snappy as Blink
, well, what is? Closing chapters on moral intuition and social instincts stretch the central argument a bit thin, but like the rest will be easily absorbed by readers. Illus.