Friday, July 23, 2021

Book Review of "Project Hail Mary"

Andy Weir is back! “Project Hail Mary” is fun, entertaining and just the right amount of dramatic! Humanity is facing an extinction-level event and the only person who can save it is your typical Andy Weir protagonist - a smart-mouthed, resourceful, nerdy, kinda-coward but ultimately brave enough person with amazing problem-solving skills! Yes, you are not alone if you think this sounds a bit too similar to The Martian, but trust me, it’s still enjoyable and the second & the third act is more of a buddy comedy than a survival story. 

After the snoozefest that was the “Artemis”, I had lowered my expectations, and boy am I glad to be more than pleasantly surprised! So if you enjoy SciFi, then give it a go - solid 4/5.

(Alternatively, you could just wait and watch the movie when it comes out in a couple of years; apparently, Hollywood has already purchased the rights!)

Saturday, July 17, 2021

Book Review of "Thinking Fast and Slow"

Thinking Fast and Slow by the Nobel Laureate Dr. Daniel Kahneman has multiple “Aha!” moments, quite a few “Holy sh*t” realizations, and at least about a hundred of “this should have been taught to everyone in the school!” epiphanies. 

“The fact that logically equivalent but contextually different statements evoke different reactions makes it impossible for Humans to be reliably rational.”

But a word of caution though. Despite being one of the most enlightening, educative, and thought-provoking books, Thinking Fast and Slow is a laborious read. Don’t get me wrong, you should definitely read this if you have an interest in anything remotely related to Psychology, Sociology, Behavioral Economics or just plain enjoy finding out about the research being done around the human psyche. But be aware that this book demands dedication. You would need to be able to recall ideas introduced in previous chapters to appreciate and soak in the content.

With these disclosures out of the way, the book itself is fascinating, the research done and the Conclusions drawn by Dr. Daniel Kahneman are groundbreaking.

"People expect to have stronger emotional reactions (including regret) to an outcome that is produced by action than to the same outcome when it is produced by inaction.”

Literally, hundreds of examples of research experiments are discussed, augmented by analyzing various real-life scenarios from advertisements to hedge funds to government policy decision making. The results are mind-boggling and yet believable. Overall, a solid 4 out of 5.