The Design of Everyday Things

Author: Don Norman Publication Date: 2002 (revised)

2022-10-12 2 min read Sincheenz

The first thing that struck me as unusual about the book was its formatting. Chapter headings were right-aligned, sub-chapter headings left-aligned with an indent, page numbers were on both sides, and so on. There seemed to be a lack of consistency. While it didn’t distract me from the content, it was a little off-putting at times. Am I just so accustomed to books formatted a certain way? I picked up a few others I own and noticed their formats were not identical either, though the majority had chapter headings on the left side of the page and there was consistency :-). Continue reading

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Scarcity - Why Having Too Little Means So Much

Author: Sendhil Mullainathan Publication Date: September 2013

2022-05-12 1 min read Sincheenz

I purchased this book after listening to the the author’s interview on “PIMA” podcast The primary focus of the book is how scarcity, whether it’s in terms of money, time, social contact, or other resources, influences our behavior. What we sometimes perceive as incompetence, laziness, indifference, or any other negative traits used to describe someone’s behavior could be a consequence of their limited bandwidth due to scarcity. Another way of looking at people and situations. Continue reading

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Fooled by Randomness - The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets

Author: Nassim Taleb Publication Date: May 2001

2022-05-01 1 min read Sincheenz

This book is another version of his bestseller “The Black Swan”, only more fatalistic. The main idea he wants to convey is that we underestimate the impact of randomness in life and attribute success or failure to skill, when it’s luck that has often played a significant role. He keeps emphasizing that skill reveals itself only over time, while luck dominates short-term results. It is true that every positive-thinking book you read or motivational speech you hear focuses too much on successful outcomes while ignoring unseen failures. Continue reading

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Never Split the Difference - Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It

Author: Chris Voss Publication Date: May 2016

2022-03-12 3 min read Sincheenz

I did the audio version of the book and was initially put off by the narrator’s dramatic voice. I decided to ignore the nasal accent and pay attention to the content, and I am happy that I persisted. This book is a treasure. I like how it combines crime scenes and professional as well as personal scenarios. The concepts of behavioral economics – loss aversion, anchoring bias, and more – are explained very well through the real-life crime and drama stories. Continue reading

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The Psychology of Money

Author: Morgan Housel Publication Date: September 2020

2022-03-12 1 min read Sincheenz

“When you see someone driving a nice car, you rarely think, “Wow, the guy driving that car is cool.” Instead, you think, “Wow, if I had that car people would think I’m cool.” Subconscious or not, this is how people think.” Morgan Housel summarizes it so well in this one sentence. Our financial decisions many time are based on our expectations of societal approval. It is important to weigh our wants with the actual need. Continue reading

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