The Art of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli | Book Reflections

Book Summary

The Art of Thinking Clearly debunks thinking fallacies like cognitive biases, hindsight biases, confirmation biases and more. By avoiding these simple errors that most people make in our daily lives, we can think better, make clearer decisions strategize the best way to go about achieving what we want. This book blends together behavioural economics, psychology and neuroscience into an easy-to-read yet practical guide.

Thoughts and Reflections

The Art of Thinking Clearly was something I wanted to read after IB and only when I was free without studies or deadlines as inhibitions. I wanted to spot any thinking errors I made while reading this book.

In order to make this a worthwhile read, I would recommend recalling previous decisions you have made in the past days or week, and see if you recognise any of these common thinking fallacies while making decisions!

Rolf Dobelli is a writer, thinker and entrepreneur. His interest in cognitive errors (the failure to think clearly) came about somewhat by chance when he met Nassim Taleb (author of The Black Swan). Dobelli then began to compile a list of systematic cognitive errors he made, which he used to make more rational decisions.

In its truest form, I guess you could call The Art of Thinking Clearly a self-help book. I don't normally read books of such genres as I prefer to make my own choices in the world without instructions and find my way! But I decided to give this book a go as I felt that thinking rationally could be applied to many aspects of life.

This was a pretty interesting read, especially when I used the recommendation above while reading. It was fun, and to be honest, a little appalling to spot so many thinking errors in my decision-making!

This book consists of 99 cognitive errors noted by the author. What I really liked was how every cognitive error could be combated with simple and practical guidance, which were easy to implement in my day-to-day life.

Why You Should Keep a Diary

Hindsight Bias (Chapter 14)

Hindsight bias is something that we are all guilty of. What Dobelli did very well was pointing out that research has shown many are aware of hindsight bias, yet they still fall for such a thinking error. Dobelli offers a tip from his personal experience, which is to write down predictions of political changes, future plans etc in a journal. Then, from time to time, compare these predictions with the actual developments.

After reading this chapter, I immediately paused this book and jotted down some predictions of my own (for future reference, the predictions were made in 2021). Of course, I hope that I will be able to forecast as accurately as possible, but it would be fun to look back in hindsight and realise how wrong I was about the future! This was definitely a simple, yet fun activity to do, and one of the many that can be found in this book.

Leave Your Supermodel Friends at Home

Contrast Effect (Chapter 10)

This was one of the most interesting chapters of the book, and largely because of the way it was written. The contrast effect is a common misconception that makes things seem more exaggerated than they actually are. The writer posits that the contrast effect is what sustains the discount business. To people who have not been trained to recognise this thinking error, a product that has been reduced from $100 to $70 seems a better value than a product that has always cost $70. Dobelli posits that the starting price should play no role and we should only judge based on its current value.

As a tongue-in-cheek practical guide to avoid this error, Dobelli suggests to leave our supermodel friends at home if we are seeking a partner as people will find us less attractive than we really are. Or better yet, he says to take two ugly friends with us if we're going on a date!

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This book is a pretty engaging book with concise chapters that are easy-to-read. Even though many of the cognitive errors in the book seem quite commonsensical, it is interesting to see how many of such thinking errors we "succumb" to on a daily basis!

However, the author does tend to generalise people who commit cognitive errors even though there are numerous different biases. Some may be more prone to certain errors because of upbringing or career choices.

I would like to contrast the tone of the book with Malcolm Gladwell's Talking to Strangers. Gladwell's book has been lauded by critics because it makes its readers feel like geniuses even when discussing niche topics. This book instead takes a different path and tends to use a teacherlike, albeit slightly condescending, tone. Although I have no qualms with the difference in tone since these books are non-fiction, this might be a slight quirk for some since most self-help books tend to be encouraging in nature.

Ratings

• Clarity/Readability: 5/5

• Author Background: 3.5/5

• Writing Style/Voice: 4/5

• Merit of ideas: 4/5

You should read this book if

• you enjoy reading self-help books

• you want to know more about cognitive functions and how the brain works

• you enjoy simple thinking and living