Not my usual sort of thing, but very interesting.
The basic premise of much of our society is that the expectation in a decision situation, be it economic/financial, political, or dietary, is that we rational human beings will behave in a rational manner, considering the options and making a "best" decision based on the available data. Apparently, this is not at all the case. Whether the decision in question involves purchasing a car or a breakfast cereal, choosing a dog or a doughnut, or whether or not to cheat on our taxes, we are led to irrational choices by irrelevant factors. In addition, this irrationality is measurable and predictable.
I found particularly interesting the section on cheating. In one test, they had the participants do a recall exercise before the actual experiment. One group was asked to recall ten books that they read in high school. The other was asked to list as many of the ten commandments as they could remember. They used a control group which had no opportunity to cheat to establish a baseline for scores on the test. The book list group cheated, the ten commandments group did not.
In the US, members of a group ordering in a restaurant are likely to order something they don't particularly want if someone in the group has already ordered what they really wanted. In China the situation is reversed. Americans want to be thought unique. Chinese want to be thought respectful.
Interesting stuff. By the way, Ariely suggests that we decide what we want to eat in advance and if possible order first - or at least announce our intentions to the group before ordering.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
Someone at book club mentioned this title. It is a twist on the multigeneraltional family saga.
The precipitating event is the arrival of an unattended four-year-old girl on the dock at Maryborough, Queensland in 1913. She doesn't know who she is, and the harbormaster takes her home and he and his wife raise her as their own.
The story ranges from the story of that child as an adult trying to solve the mystery of her life, the events of the previous generation which brought her to Australia, and the story of her granddaughter who returns and puts all the pieces together.
The narrative follows three women, Eliza, Nell, and Cassandra, skipping Lesley, Cassandra's mother and taking an occasional look back at Georgianna, Eliza's mother. Also tucked in are a few allegorical fairy tales written by Eliza. Each of the stories is told in chronological order, but the time slips freely among them. Surprisingly, the switches are not difficult to follow. When a part of one of the stories needs to be told Morton does it. She lets us see the parallels without beating us over the head with them.
Her one descent into literary "cuteness" is the inclusion of Frances Hodgson Burnett in a cameo role. I suspect that was a clue to the reader that she knew she was borrowing some plot elements from The Secret Garden.
The precipitating event is the arrival of an unattended four-year-old girl on the dock at Maryborough, Queensland in 1913. She doesn't know who she is, and the harbormaster takes her home and he and his wife raise her as their own.
The story ranges from the story of that child as an adult trying to solve the mystery of her life, the events of the previous generation which brought her to Australia, and the story of her granddaughter who returns and puts all the pieces together.
The narrative follows three women, Eliza, Nell, and Cassandra, skipping Lesley, Cassandra's mother and taking an occasional look back at Georgianna, Eliza's mother. Also tucked in are a few allegorical fairy tales written by Eliza. Each of the stories is told in chronological order, but the time slips freely among them. Surprisingly, the switches are not difficult to follow. When a part of one of the stories needs to be told Morton does it. She lets us see the parallels without beating us over the head with them.
Her one descent into literary "cuteness" is the inclusion of Frances Hodgson Burnett in a cameo role. I suspect that was a clue to the reader that she knew she was borrowing some plot elements from The Secret Garden.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Arrow's Flight by Mercedes Lackey
Finished them all. Next time I reread them, I will just keep it a secret and we can just assume that I was too busy to read anything for a couple of days.
I know that there are more Valdemar books, but I haven't ever gotten around to reading them. I remember reading Katharine Kurtz's Deryni books and after I had read the prequels and the sequels I never really cared to go back to the original three which I liked very much and had read several times. On the other hand, maybe reading the rest of them would cure me of these. Of course, then I would have to find something else to go back to when I wanted some "comfort reading" - yes, from the same general idea as comfort food. At this moment, I'm tired and depressed from just the thought of the next four weeks. And one of the two courses I am committed to I actually expect to thoroughly enjoy - if keeping up with the other doesn't take all the fun out of it.
I know that there are more Valdemar books, but I haven't ever gotten around to reading them. I remember reading Katharine Kurtz's Deryni books and after I had read the prequels and the sequels I never really cared to go back to the original three which I liked very much and had read several times. On the other hand, maybe reading the rest of them would cure me of these. Of course, then I would have to find something else to go back to when I wanted some "comfort reading" - yes, from the same general idea as comfort food. At this moment, I'm tired and depressed from just the thought of the next four weeks. And one of the two courses I am committed to I actually expect to thoroughly enjoy - if keeping up with the other doesn't take all the fun out of it.
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