At tænke hurtigt og langsomt

This book has shifted our personal mindset - and here you get a very thorough introduction to the research in the space between economics, psychology, decision theory and management combined with brain research. Arguably one of the biggest topics of our time. Kahneman has been one of the pioneers within this field, and the book - which is very thick - gives a thorough introduction to the research and the whole field.

It is built up of a great many short chapters with a certain coherence, but without any grand overarching narrative. It does, however, rest on a fundamental distinction between two systems in our brain, each with its own function. System 1 is our intuitive, shortcut-based approach to finding the right answer; we look - to put it a little simply - for associations that enable pattern recognition in relation to something we have already experienced and whose outcome we know. System 2 is, by contrast, slow, thorough and well substantiated; it tries to form an overview of relevant, available data and works deductively to identify the right, rational course of action in the situation in question. Thinking things through is usually a slow and energy-demanding process. The brain therefore only activates System 2 with a certain reluctance.

The book is packed with descriptions of concrete research into brain science and decisions, and with lots of small, thought-provoking examples of the way our brains work. One example: if a bat and a ball cost 110 kr. together, and the bat costs 100 kr. more than the ball - how much does the ball cost? Just have a think about it… The answer is of course obviously 5 kr. - if that was not your first guess, it is because your brain is lazy, exactly like the rest of ours. What consequences this has, and what you can do about it, you can read about in the book.