I came across this book while visiting one of the bookstores during my lunch break in town. While perusing the wonderful array of beautiful and colourful books in there, I saw this tiny and plain looking book somehow misplaced and not shelved in its proper place. I was meant to read it! I read a couple of chapters and thought this is good this is what I need to read right now! But I did not buy it. Oh no! I do not buy books unless I am going to read them over and over and over and over again…..But of course I needed to read this book so I immediately checked my library catalogue to see if they keep the title. Alas, no. So I ordered it and lo and behold they bought it! I only had to wait for a month or two.

To tell you the truth, I enjoyed reading this more in dribs and drabs while I visited the bookstore on my lunch break and not when I had it in my possession and could read the whole lot. Weird.  Also, I read a similar book by Dobelli called ‘The Art of Thinking Clearly‘, which I thought was better than this one.

So what is my verdict, I hear you ask! I don’t know, I guess it’s ok – there were a few good advice in there but he seems to quote a lot from two business gurus called Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett. But I suppose it’s ok as his sub-title is called “clear thinking fo business and a better life”. So some of the chapters I like are:

• The pledge: Inflexibility as a stratagem
• Black Box Thinking: Reality doesn’t care about your feeling; or why every false step improves your life (in this chapter I learnt why windows on airplanes are oval-shaped rather than square)
• Counterproductivity: Why timesavers are often timewasters
• The Ovarian Lottery: Why you didn’t earn your successes
• The things you buy leave no real trace: Why you should buy less and experience more
• Prevention: Avoid problems before you have to solve them
• The Secretary problem: Why our sample sizes are too small
• …and many more but too long to list here…

Aside from my lukewarm reception to this book, I would still recommend it! Enjoy!