The World's Best Book Summaries
Do you ever remember an event differently than someone else who was there? How do fake memories form in the brain? A fake memory is one that is remembered differently from how it happened or one in which details of a thing or event are wrong. But, don’t worry—everybody has fake memories. It’s part of how the human brain functions. Here’s why your memory may be playing tricks on you.
Do you want to know how to make better decisions about your future? What common mistakes do people make when considering the future? In his book Stumbling on Happiness, social psychology researcher Daniel Gilbert details six poor choices people make when planning for the future. By avoiding doing these things, you will be in a better position to make decisions that lead to happiness. Here are the six poor choices you should avoid when making decisions.
Is taking advice from others a good idea? Do you shrug off advice given to you by friends and family? Studies have shown that making decisions based on your own memories often leads to poor decision-making and unhappiness. However, social psychologist Daniel Gilbert says that taking advice from others can help you overcome your bias and faulty memories. Unfortunately, many ignore the advice of others for two main reasons. Here’s why people tend to ignore advice from others.
Are you perceiving reality accurately, or do you have blind spots in your perception? Does everybody perceive the world in the same way? According to Harvard professor and social psychologist Daniel Gilbert, we all are perceiving reality through a distorted lens. Gilbert says that your brain fabricates your present reality by filling in visual and aural gaps in your perception with assumed information—and by interpreting present events in a way that’s advantageous to you. Here are the two fabrications that most people make about reality.
Why does imagining the future increase happiness? Why do fabrications of the future tend to look more positive than the past or present? In his book Stumbling on Happiness, social psychologist Daniel Gilbert explores how and why your brain attempts to fabricate the future. He also discusses the limitations the brain encounters while trying to do so and how it overcomes them. Here’s how and why your brain imagines the future.
Why do people continue to make bad choices despite tons of advice on how to avoid them? How does your fabricated reality lead you to make poor decisions? Daniel Gilbert, the author of Stumbling on Happiness, has a theory about why this happens. Gilbert believes that your brain fabricates beliefs about your past, present, and future that don’t always align with reality. Gilbert’s theory is that this fabricated reality leads you to make decisions about the future that aren’t conducive to happiness. Here are the reasons people make bad choices, according to social psychologist Daniel Gilbert.
What makes a winning business strategy? What factors should you take into account when designing a big-picture strategy for your business? It’s one thing to set goals for your company, but it’s another thing to know how to reach those goals. The path towards your goals is your strategy. An effective business strategy is one that is built from the ground up. Here’s a seven-step process for creating a strategy for success.
Do you have a vision for the future? Do you make present-day decisions based on how you think you’ll feel later? Social psychologist Daniel Gilbert explains in his book Stumbling on Happiness that, when you make life choices based on how you assume you’ll feel in the future, you tend to make poor choices. Your first mistake is assuming that you’ll feel the same in the future as you do now. Here’s why people tend to make choices they regret in the future.
What are the benefits of a free-market economy? What are the main arguments given in favor of the free market? In his book What Money Can’t Buy, philosopher Michael Sandel argues that free-market societies are immoral and create corruption. He starts his book by explaining the three arguments that defenders of the free market often make: the efficiency argument, the utilitarian argument, and the libertarian argument. We’ll go over each of the three arguments below.
What are some of the best idea-driven books? What’s so great about C. S. Lewis? What movie is just as good as the book? Elizabeth could tell you. Based in the Northwoods of Wisconsin, she’s a blog writer at Shortform. We interviewed her recently to learn a bit about her love-love relationship with books.