Lately I've been thinking about decision theory. How do we make decisions? What influences them? How can we make better decisions? I picked up Mauboussin's book to help shed some light on the subject. He does so by helping the reader identify the salient mistakes people make while making decisions. Some of these mistakes include our tendency to rely upon experts uncritically, how we subconsciously allow context to affect our decisions, and how we try to understand complex systems by studying their parts. Throughout the book, he illustrates these mistakes with entertaining stories. One key message I took from this book was the value of experience. We all have a tendency to think of our problems as unique when they're not. When making decisions, Instead of relying on just reason or intuition, consider the experiences of others, or your own past experiences. If you want to improve your decision making, Mauboussin recommends keeping a decision journal. So take the time to think twice, before deciding.

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