Interesting. Not a ton of new learning (I'd read the white papers on most of the studies mentioned) but put together well. We take mental shortcuts all the time called heuristics. The book groups them into bunches and shows how they are efficient and wonderful at the same time as being dangerous and destructive. Worth reading for the insights. ( )

I was a little annoyed by this book. It had some great information in it. There were a number of things I knew already from previous readings and classes, but there was stuff I'd never heard about and was glad to learn.

The thing that drove me nuts was this. Each chapter was on a cognitive heuristic. And half the time I'd finish reading a chapter and still not know what the heuristic was. Oh, sure, I knew the topic it was related to -- self-esteem, or judgment, or bias -- but I didn't know what the actual heuristic's definition was. So annoying.

But other than that it was a good book. It would seem from the title that it contains tips for "outsmarting your mind's hard-wired habits," but it doesn't. Which amused me. But it was a pretty good read overall, anyway. ( )