Summary: Thinking, Fast and Slow

Assumptions about how we think and how we make choices underpin just about every human activity. But many of these assumptions are incorrect. Most of us over-estimate the extent to which our decisions are based on reasoned deliberation rather than intuition, and we are often confident even when we are wrong. The field of behavioural economics applies psychological insights to human behaviour to seek to explain why we behave in the way we do.

Daniel Kahneman is an Israeli-American psychologist notable for his work on the psychology of judgement and decision-making, as well as behavioural economics, for which he was awarded the 2002 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. Thinking, Fast and Slow was published in 2011, and brings together the findings of decades of research by Kahneman.

This book is a summary of Thinking, Fast and Slow. It is set out in five parts, following the layout of the original: Two systems; Heuristics and biases; Overconfidence; Choices; and Two selves. It finishes with a brief conclusion. This summary is unofficial, and has not been endorsed by Professor Kahneman. Interested readers are encouraged to pick up the original book.

Summary: Thinking, Fast and Slow is the third book in the Summary series. Each book in the series summarises an important work or topic in an approachable way, in around fifty pages.

100% of the profits from the sale of this book will be donated to the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative (SCI), which is rated as one of the most effective charities in the world (www.givewell.org/charities/top-charities). SCI works with governments in sub-Saharan Africa to create or scale up programmes that treat schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis (neglected tropical diseases that can have an impact on children's long-term development).