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Exploring Solution Spaces, Keith Ray's blog on Software development and other topics.
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2007.Jul.17 Tue
It's easier for me to write a review of a book I'm still in the process of reading it, than it is for me to write a review after I have finished reading the book. Why is that? Once I've finished the book, I move onto the next thing. Writing a review would be "going backwards". So I'm writing this book review while I'm still reading the book.
The book is Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz. It's got a lot of interesting stuff in it: maximizers and satisficers, sunk costs, how verbalizing the reasons for a choice sometimes causes us make worse choices, how a disappointment often leads us to consider counterfactuals that increase our regrets, and so on.
A friend of mine tends to compare himself to his more successful cousin, increasing his regrets. He could compare himself to one of his less successful cousin, but doesn't. Why not? The Olympic winner of a silver medal is less happy than the winner of a bronze medal. Why? Because the silver winner compares his or her reality against the winner of the gold medal and regrets whatever choices might have preventing winning the gold, while the bronze winner compares his or her reality against not winning a medal at all, and so appreciates reality more.
This may be the one of the most "practical" books available for increasing your happiness, and it's based on science. (Insert appreciative sound here.) Science may not be able to explain why we cause ourselves so much mental suffering in all cases, but it does help explain that it's not our fault for many cases. Some of our behavior is very likely built into our neurology, and some of it may come from the influence of society. But we can make an effort to overcome our natural inclinations towards thoughts that cause us suffering.