The Art of Choosing |  | Author: Sheena Iyengar
Publisher: Twelve
Category: Book
List Price: $25.99
Buy New: $14.86
as of 7/31/2010 19:25 CDT details
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Rating:  52 reviews
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 352
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.3
ISBN: 0446504106
Dewey Decimal Number: 153.83
EAN: 9780446504102
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Product Description
Every day we make choices. Coke or Pepsi? Save or spend? Stay or go?
Whether mundane or life-altering, these choices define us and shape our lives. Sheena Iyengar asks the difficult questions about how and why we choose: Is the desire for choice innate or bound by culture? Why do we sometimes choose against our best interests? How much control do we really have over what we choose? Sheena Iyengar's award-winning research reveals that the answers are surprising and profound. In our world of shifting political and cultural forces, technological revolution, and interconnected commerce, our decisions have far-reaching consequences. Use THE ART OF CHOOSING as your companion and guide for the many challenges ahead.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 52
 A brilliant book on Choosing December 27, 2009
David Field (Merrimac, MA USA)
55 out of 62 found this review helpful
Ten years ago Malcolm Gladwell released "The Tipping Point" and ushered in a whole bunch of books on what new psychological research has told us about ourselves. Publishers are unwilling to take risks, so there have been many similar books since that time. Thankfully, most of them are as well-researched and written as Gladwell's book.
The latest, and definitely one of the best, is Sheena Iyenga's book, "The Art of Choosing." This book explodes the ideas we have about choice. Did you know that the U.S.A. is the place where choice is valued most highly? In Japan, for instance, people are far more likely to be told where to work and what to wear. Sheena's parents (both Sikhs) had an arranged marriage in India, and there are pictures of the wedding day. Sheena's mother seems to me to be the most beautiful woman in the world (no wonder her husband is laughing at his good fortune).
I knew two Indian programmers that had arranged marriages, but these days the men are in the U.S.A. Relatives back in India contact the parents of suitable women and, in the few weeks of the men's vacation, they go on dates with their "girlfriends," and if all goes well they date some more, until they finally find a compatible partner. This goes against the Western dream of finding a lifetime companion on your own. Apparently millions of people throughout the world manage to find someone, but the spouse is often a co-worker, a co-student, or just one of a circle of friends. We would be shocked if we weren't allowed to choose whoever we wanted to, yet in the current Indian version the women are already expecting to move abroad and to have a nerdy but well-paid husband.
Examples like this proliferate through the book. The new CEO of Coca-Cola in the 1980s had a problem with his senior vice-presidents who thought the company was doing well because they had 45 percent of the soft drink market. He asked them, "What proportion of the liquid market - not just the soft drink market - do we have?" That turned out to be only two percent. The resulting change in the world view of the company led Coca-Cola to increase sales revenue by thirty-five times in just over ten years.
The most famous of Sheena's experiment was the 1995 Jam study, conducted in Draeger's Supermarket in San Francisco. The store was known for its huge selection of every kind of food and food product it offered - 20,000 bottles of wine, 150 kinds of vinegar, and 3,000 cookbooks. Sheena wondered whether the choice was too great so she set up a sample Wilkins Jam taste station which offered either twenty-four or six samples. Anyone who sampled was given a dollar-off coupon for any flavor of the jam.
To the surprise of most people, those who sampled one of the six samples of jam were six times more likely to buy jam than those who tried one of the twenty-four flavors (the six samples were included in the twenty-four). So it seems that there is such a thing as "too much choice."
In the final chapter Sheena discusses choice when the options are limited and either one is bad. Do you take the operation that runs the risk of a five percent chance of dying, or stay with your illness even though it will kill you in the end? There are plenty more mind-challenging things throughout the book, and in the epilogue Sheena talks about seeing S.K. Jain, one of India's famous astrologers, and asks his opinion of her book. Jain says, "This book will far exceed your expectations."
I have to agree with Jain. This book far exceeded my own expectations, and I'm sure it will do the same for you. When you consider that Sheena is blind, I find amazing that she's managed to do all this with her life, and write about it as well. So be artful and choose this book. You won't regret it.
Interesting and Complete book on the subject January 13, 2010
ruks (Los Gatos, CA)
17 out of 19 found this review helpful
This book covers everything (culture, environment, politics, economy, psychology, religion, history etc) that affects choices. It covers all types of choices from big to small. Everything written in this book is supported by first hand research by the Author herself or someone else Author is able to quote clearly. Her knowledge of the subject is very deep and thorough. Its a hard to put down book. Most valuable message I got from the book - Having less/no choices is not always bad and having lots of choices is not always good. THIS BOOK DOES NOT LECTURE ON HOW TO MAKE CHOICES. It helps you understand and makes you aware of what affects choices.
Readable but not pop psychology January 24, 2010
Book Addict (Midwest)
16 out of 19 found this review helpful
Who hasn't stood in front of her closet wondering what to wear today? Who hasn't passed on dessert because he couldn't make up his mind? Who hasn't walked out of a clothing store because there were too many choices?
We all make choices every day, from the simple "cereal or eggs?" to the life-altering, "which college shall I attend?"
Sheena Iyengar has written a wonderfully readable book which discusses the many choices that we make every day and delves into the psychology of those choices. Did you know that seven is the apex of the best number of choices to choose from with twelve being too many to remember? Did you know that the candidate at the top of the ballot often receives more votes just based upon the position of his or her name? (Thus the push for states to rotate the position of candidates names instead of just listing incumbents first or in alphabetical order.)
What culture are you from? How does that affect your comfort with freedom of choice? Do you prefer more choices or are you more comfortable if someone chooses for you if they have your best interests at heart?
Iyengar will lead you by the hand to look at the why and how we choose, anything from small to large choices. She has presented a scholarly text, backed with many experiments and references, yet has written it in a way that nearly anyone can follow and grasp the concepts she reviews. Most amazing of all, is that Iyengar travels all over the world, seeks out the resources she needs, and yet has been blind from an early age. She is one very brave and determined woman.
I highly recommend this book for anyone who has ever been curious about why we choose the life we do.
Interesting and illuminating March 12, 2010
Marilyn Dalrymple (Lancaster, CA United States)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
"The Art of Choosing," by Sheena Iyengar opened my eyes to many things of which I wasn't aware. Choosing isn't the only subject the book speakske about, either; it could be considered a primer in psychology.
This book discusses, among other things, psychological tests that give surprising results. One test Iyengar ran tested how people of different cultural backgrounds , ". . . perceived their work environment. . .." as to having choices while at work. Two-thousand Citicorp bank tellers and sales representatives from around the globe and of Hispanic American, African American, Anglo American and Asian American rated on a scale from 1 (Not at all) to 9 ( very much) how much choice they felt they had while in their work environment.
The results of the test, ". . . clearly revealed," their cultural backgrounds affected their perception of how much choice they had. Asian Americans were less likely than Anglo Americans, Hispanic Americans or African Americans to think of their activities while at work were a matter of choice. I would have to think that our cultural backgrounds influences other areas of our lives as well, but only in our minds (this is my thought alone, not Iyengar's).
To some of us, choices presented to us can be overwhelming. Some companies, Iyengar suggests, could benefit from reducing the number of choices given customers. Tests have shown that found, "fairly consistently," that people, when given a moderate number of choices to choose from are more likely to make a choice more confidently and leave happier than if given a large number of choices.
"The Art of Choosing" reveals why we make the personal choices we do - what the impetus is behind our actions. I found this fascinating. Can the mere way in which our choices are presented to us determine which choice we make? Tests show it can.
Iyengar notes that, "The expansion of choice has become an explosion of choice, and while there is something beautiful and immensely satisfying about having all of this variety at our fingertips, [24 million books are available through Amazon.com, for instance] we also find ourselves beset by it."
I found this book satisfying on many levels. It covers several important subjects, tests are offered to back up Iyengar's words, the information is interesting. You won't find yourself falling asleep while reading this book.
Your Key to Health and Happiness January 8, 2010
John Chancellor (New Orleans)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
In 2008, Ralph Keeney, a professor at Duke University published a paper based on information he gathered from the Center for Disease Control. The conclusion of this paper was that for people between the ages of 15 and 64 years of age, 55 percent of all deaths were attributable to personal decisions. That is, the choices these people made were a direct factor in their death. His definition of choices covered the spectrum of human behavior including smoking, poor diet, alcohol and drug abuse, obesity and other behaviors that directly affect ones health.
We want freedom of choice but rarely do we consider all the implications of the choices we make. Clearly a lot of people make a lot of choices which at best are poor. The Art of Choosing examines in great detail our desire for control over choices, the process we use in making choices, the effect culture has on our choices and the long term effect of some choices.
The book is filled with very interesting and thought provoking experiments and studies that examine how we react to different levels of choices. There seems to be an inborn desire for control over our lives. We want the freedom to make choices. And when others make choices for us, we are not happy. And our feelings show up in many different ways. We can become less productive in the work place when told what to do, how to and when to do it.
In a famous research project in Whitehall - the UK center of government - the researchers found that those in the lowest levels of government - the ones who had the least control over their jobs suffered the highest rate of heart disease. Being deprived of choice directly impacts our health.
There was another very interesting example presented in the book - that of arranged marriages in India verses the typical Western method. In India it is often common for couple to meet on their wedding day. In America we would be horrified at the thought. Yet the statistics show that arranged marriages have a much better survival rate than the weddings based on romantic love. Again we want the choice but often times we make poor choices.
While we generally want to feel in control and have total control over our choices, there are situations when we would rather have others make the choices for us. When it comes to life and death matters - making the decision to pull the plug on a love one - we often carry the guilt of the decision for years after. In other countries where the decision is made by the medical staff, the people are not haunted by having made the choice.
There are countless other stories of how choice plays such a huge role in our lives. When given too many options, we can become overwhelmed and default to no choice.
The book has some overlap with The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz and Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely. If you enjoyed either of these books, you will find this one very interesting.
Sheena Iyengar is a college professor but it is not in the typical academic style. It is well written and easy to read. You will come away from reading this book with a different perspective on choice.
Choosing is not a science - it is an art. Choosing is at the heart of being a human being. If you want to have a better life, you need to master the art of choosing or at least improve your ability at making choices which will prove good in the long term. This book will certainly help you and therefore I highly recommend it.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 52
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