How We Make Them and WhyMalcolm Gladwell's 2005-2006 bestseller, Blink, examined how we make snap judgements. In Freakonomics, a bestseller well into 2007, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner suggested if the economic incentives are good, we're highly likely to make questionable (a.k.a. dishonest, illegal or plain old bad) decisions.
Latest books on the topic include Ori and Rom Braffman's Sway and Rick Shenkman's Just How Stupid Are We? Sway examines how we're driven to make decisions when the factual evidence suggests we shouldn't. Shenkman's book makes its case on the dumbing down of American politics and how easily voters are misled by spin.
We recommend all of these genuinely thoughtful books to non-fiction readers but darn -- if you do read 'em all -- you may start dropping bread crumbs to find your way home...
