Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior by Ori Brafman, Rom Brafman Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior
Book Review: Insightful, Fun, and Informative
Summary: 5 Stars
Ori, the author contacted me about reading his book. He was the author of "The Starfish and the Spider" which was a superb read. It was a blessing because I had planned on purchasing this book anyway to read. Sway is a masterful book about the influencing aspects of irrational behavior. The book is an enjoyable read as he weaves together interesting stories to narratively make his points. The book is dealing with mostly economic theory and human personality, but I found it highly relevant to the church culture. It is amazing the parallels within the church. The book dealt with loss aversion and the influence of commitment. You see these dynamics in congregations all the time. The book is great as it will "sway" you to see the world in a whole new light. It will also help you to make sense of some of the practices that take place in congregations. Thank you Ori and Rom for another insightful work.Book Review: Not enough meat.
Summary: 2 Stars
The book ends at page 160 or so. The pages aren't exactly dense. There are a few interesting study results mentioned here, but I'm sure Readers' Digest will cover the same subject in 20 pages or less, and do a better job.
It would have been nice if the authors took the time to define simple terms, like "irrational" and "rational". This isn't really a book, it's half a book, with all the hard-to-write bits skipped over.
Book Review: Another best seller for a good reason
Summary: 5 Stars
It's an amazing book! Ori and his brother take another Tipping Point slash Freakonomics approach to this book which is very successful and very good at communicating complicated concepts. By using stories I'm able to quickly grasp the idea, and then I have a vivid application of the concept that I can turn around and use to share with others. This is the kind of book you read today and talk about with everyone you run into for the next three weeks.
The main point of the book is that we are often drawn to doing dumb (irrational) things and making decisions that make no sense... but in reality, they do. Go read the book and you'll realize, yes, this is what is going on all the time. It helps explain so many behavioral (and economical) decisions that, hopefully, the understanding of 'sway' can help you make better choices (about yourself, your products, your approaches, etc.).
Book Review: No Way Rational
Summary: 4 Stars
The Brothers Brafman take us on a short and interesting tour of why we do what we do. The better parts: not only do we see what we expect to see but this "expectation" bias changes the way those seen act(three groups in the military are sent to training; randomly assigned rankings from excellent to so so; their commanders are told which is which but not that it is random; and guess what---not only do the commanders rate the ones assigned a random excellent as better but the soldiers ,when later tested, aligned with their commander's pre-planted views; they conformed their performance to how the commanders perceived them); altruism is a more powerful motivator to induce a person to perform a task than money if the money offered is not commensurate with the task(Swiss citizens were ok with a nuclear dump in their town when the appeal was to citizenship but became much less so when the appeal was we will pay you to do it because the moola was not enough; it does not take much to fuel the altruism part of the brain but it takes a lot to fuel the pleasure part of the brain); and once tagged, always tagged( the draft position of NBA players dictacted playing time and length of time in league---the lower the draft pick number, the more of each). Good epilogue with some practical ideas. Also some good stuff on hiring employees. Bottom Line: know these ideas and make them work for you.Book Review: Interesting, Fun, Deeply Thought-Provoking
Summary: 5 Stars
The Brafmans do an excellent job showcasing the irrational behavior all around us. Whether you're a doctor, venture capitalist, teacher, or even a college football coach, there are subtle psychological cues driving you to engage in irrational behaviors that can have a significant negative impact on your life. Reading the anecdotes, one might wonder 'how can anyone ever do that?' The book's close inspection of many different situations shows us that we all do it, and in fact, most of us are guilty of irrationality every single day. 'Sway' lifts the mystery behind these subtleties of irrational thinking and allows us to be more critical of ourselves so we can understand really what is driving the decisions we make day in and day out.
Overall, 'Sway' is a great read. It's very well-written, fast-moving, inherently entertaining, insightful, and just downright fun. It will leave you in a healthy state of self-reflection and critical thinking of the world around you.