The Art of Thinking Clearly

Rolf Dobelli

Overview: Swiss author and businessman Rolf Dobelli became interested in heuristics, biases, and other cognitive errors in a rather unexpected way, after a chance invitation to speak at an event with Nassim Nicholas Taleb (The Black Swan). He began to consume works on failures to think clearly, which led to him creating a list of such errors. The Art of Thinking Clearly represents the culmination of this effort. In this book, Dobelli lists 99 such cognitive errors. Examples include, “Why You Should Forget the Past” (sunk cost fallacy), “Why the Last Cookie in the Jar Makes Your Mouth Water” (scarcity error), and “Why Speed Demons Appear to Be Safer Drivers” (intention-to-treat error). Each brief chapter includes anecdotes, examples, and practical advice to help the reader recognize the error and avoid it