Eyes Wide Open: How to Make Smart Decisions in a Confusing World

Economist Hertz (The Silent Takeover) provides a detailed guide to the vulnerabilities of human cognition, ranging from selection biases to sleep deprivation, from statistical misapprehensions to simple peer pressure and unconscious environmental cues. She also explains how the straightforward presentation of information can sometimes mislead us, and the means by which profit- and power-seeking entities attempt to exploit our human foibles. Each of the book’s 10 sections includes advice on how to address these pitfalls and methods by which distracting influences and misleading data can filtered by the self-aware to arrive at reasonable decisions. Written in an informal style, the book might seem like light entertainment, but many of Hertz’s observations are impressively incisive. Readers interested in more information are well advised to peruse the author’s detailed end notes. Properly applied, her straightforward suggestions will alert readers to logical and perceptive blinders, allowing them to make better decisions. Agent: Ed Victor, Ed Victor Literary Agency. (Oct.)