Tag: Psychology Book Review

A young woman walks into a laboratory. Over the past two years, she has transformed almost every aspect of her life. She has quit smoking, run a marathon, and been promoted at work. The patterns inside her brain, neurologists discover, have fundamentally changed. Marketers at Procter & Gamble study videos of people making their beds. They are desperately trying to figure out how to sell a new product called Febreze, on track to be one of the biggest flops in company history. Suddenly, one of them detects a nearly imperceptible pattern—and with a slight shift in advertising, Febreze goes on to earn a billion dollars a year.

The only reason why I’ve read this book was because I’ve heard a lot of good about this book and the majority of reviews of this book on Goodreads are very positive in the 4-star and 5-star categories. But after reading this book I gotta admit that it wasn’t as good as a lot of people on Goodreads claim it is. But of course I’m gonna explain everything in this review so lets get into it.

This book is interesting and enjoyable. Because it talks about how to actually change our more negative habits like lets say smoking, drinking or whatever else you classify as a “bad habit”. 

But I need to admit here that this book seemed to me like a mix between “Thinking, Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman and “Atomic Habits” by James Clear. Because this book talks a lot about the same things those 2 books talk about. But this book says very similar things which “Thinking, Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman and “Atomic Habits” by James Clear say but in different way. 

After reading this book I gotta admit that if you have read both “Thinking, Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman and “Atomic Habits” by James Clear, then you can easily skip this book because those two books I’ve mentioned explain the process of replacing bad habits with good habits.

This book has a fair share of anecdotes and at times those anecdotes don’t support or go along with a particular arguments the author attempting to tell us about. Which really made me think about whats the point of having those anecdotes if they don’t go along with what the author is trying to tell us. 

The other thing which really annoyed me, is that the author explains everything painfully clear like the readers of this book are a bunch of toddlers who are only learning how to form coherent thoughts. Which is the main reason why I said that the 2 books I’ve mentioned above are much better than this book because they dont treat their readers like some idiots who need to have everything explained on a toddler level.

The thing you have to know about this book is that it is not a self-help book as Goodreads claim it is. The author doesn’t give us any tips on how to actually change / improve our habits. instead this book is more of an analysis / essay about habits and how companies like target use habits to influence our lives. So keep that in mind, because if you are looking for a self-help book on how to improve your habits then reading “Atomic Habits” by James Clear is a much better choice than this book is.

The writing style is okay for the most part, but when the author tries to explain something to us the writing style almost drop to an toddler level but I’ve already said that above. 

At the same time this book takes over 350 pages to explain something which could be done in 2 or 3 pages. The thing which the author is trying to tell us in those 350 pages is that if you want to change or make new habits you should be consistent with what habits you want to make. Like if you want to go to sleep at 10 pm each night then you should try to go to sleep at around 10 pm most nights rather than hope you will fall asleep at 10pm. 

But this book makes some good points here and there, which really is the only thing which made me give this book a 3 star rating instead of a 2 star rating. 

I Give This Book 3 / 5

In the new edition of this highly acclaimed bestseller, Robert Cialdini—New York Times bestselling author of Pre-Suasion and the seminal expert in the fields of influence and persuasion—explains the psychology of why people say yes and how to apply these insights ethically in business and everyday settings. Using memorable stories and relatable examples, Cialdini makes this crucially important subject surprisingly easy. With Cialdini as a guide, you don’t have to be a scientist to learn how to use this science.

I gotta admit that this book did surprise me a lot, because I was ready to not like it since I thought this book would be very university psychology text book like. But I need to admit I was wrong here and this book is actually very good. 

Reading this book have opened my eyes at how stores, sales people and fundraiser use psychology to get people to either buy something they might never need or sign up for some random shit which wont improve your life at the slightest.

I like this book a lot since it actually shows us real life tactics which so many people actually misuse now on days. And reading this book will actually open your eyes and make you aware how you might be manipulated to buy something or sign up for some random shit. 

This book talks about some heavy things in psychology, but it does it in a very interesting and fun way. Which doesn’t feel like reading a psychology textbook but rather it feels like reading a transcript of one of those very well done psychology YouTube videos. 

The writing style in this book is very easy and simple.  Which really made me give this book some extra points for doing. Because in a way the writing style makes it feel like having a long chat with the author because how easy and down to earth the writing style was even thou the author is a very educated man. 

This book gives us a lot of examples which we can see the tactics in action. I personally think that the majority of the examples used in this book could have been removes, or cut short. Because I found them to be not that great and very uninteresting to read.

The length of this book is pretty major, I personally read the new expended version of this book. I strongly believe that this book could have been cut short because there are times where it stretches point out of proportion and makes it boring.

But if you are like me and you have read some business books before reading this one, you will notice that this book repeats a lot of the same things from the majority of business books I’ve read. This book makes better points about some things than the business books I’ve read, but there is also times where this books makes worse points about some things than the business books I’ve read.

For me personally this book was very interesting and enjoyable to read, of course it could just be me because I enjoy reading psychology and business books. But there is something which really makes this book very relatable and easy to understand. Unlike some of the psychology books I’ve read in my time. 

I Give This Book 4 / 5

What does everyone in the modern world need to know? Renowned psychologist Jordan B. Peterson’s answer to this most difficult of questions uniquely combines the hard-won truths of ancient tradition with the stunning revelations of cutting-edge scientific research.

I had this book for a very long time on my TBR list and I finally took the time to read this one. And I gotta tell you that this book is complete worth reading it and the time you will spend reading this book.

I personally am a huge fan of Jordan B. Peterson and I’ve been on couple of his lectures and on his book tour. 

This book has many good outlook at the problems people might have in their lives. And it does go deep into some of these problems and it gives us clear solutions on what we can do to make our lives better. 

However this book has couple useless examples like the lobster example in Rule 1. Which really didn’t need to be there and it wouldn’t change the book in any way. 

Jordan B Peterson is a christian and believes in God but the huge talk about religion talk in this book really annoyed me because I am a huge atheist and I’ve been that for my whole life. All these religion talks in this book really made me stop reading this book and read something else instead so this is way it took me weeks to actually finish this book. 

This book is super enjoyable and you will learn a lot from this book, and it is a really quick read overall. 

The writing style here was very good and it felt more like sitting down with Jordan Peterson and hear him talk rather than reading a book. While reading this book I’ve heard Jordan Peterson’s voice somehow which I really didn’t mind. 

I give this book 4 / 5

In Factfulness, Professor of International Health and global TED phenomenon Hans Rosling, together with his two long-time collaborators, Anna and Ola, offers a radical new explanation of why this happens. They reveal the ten instincts that distort our perspective—from our tendency to divide the world into two camps (usually some version of us and them) to the way we consume media (where fear rules) to how we perceive progress (believing that most things are getting worse).

This book is an amazing nonfiction, psychology and science book. Because it is so knowledgeable and there is so much to learn from it. And that’s what books I love the most beside Stephen King’s book. 

This book had opened my eyes that things are actually better than I and many other people think things are. This book not only gives us evidence that things are better but it also explains the evidence in a nice and easy way for everyone to understand it. This book have helped me notice that many things might change in the next decades and that that poor countries might not be poor in couple of decades. 

It doesn’t matter if you have a doctoral degree in psychology or if you have dropped out of high school you will be able to understand this book because it is written in a nice and easy way. And it also explains everything in a nice and easy way as I’ve said above. 

Some people will complain about some term which are used in this book. Terms like “low-income countries”, “primary school” and so on. But just know that this book is written from American and European point of view which means that it is written from a point of view which most people in the west are used to like buying a new phone every 2 year, having an house or apartment, having a good job, having car or cars etc. And all the terms which are used in this book are used from our perspective. 

And this book really shows that the world can be bad and better at the same time. Because things are so much better than they were 50 years ago but still there are some many things which we need to fix. 

The writing style was so amazing that it almost felt like I was having a chat with the author about all these things which are mention in this book. Which I give this book extra point for because I love when it happens. 

I give this book 5 / 5

In the highly anticipated Thinking, Fast and Slow, Kahneman takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. Kahneman exposes the extraordinary capabilities—and also the faults and biases—of fast thinking, and reveals the pervasive influence of intuitive impressions on our thoughts and behaviour.

This one is definitely a must read book, because there are a lots of things which you will learn about your brain and yourself. And most of these things are things which you probably didn’t think about before.

This book explains also a lots of psychological reasons behind the decisions and action we take even when we dont think about it. Dont worry this book explains this in a very easy and smooth way and everyone will at least understand 50% of this book.

I need to give this book points for being very quick read at least for me. 

By reading this book you can just skip reading books like “Black Swan”, “Blink”, “Nudge” and very likely hundreds of other Behavioural Economics books because this one really covers what most Behavioural Economics books leak to cover. 

If you are interested in psychology or in why human beings behave the way they behave you should read this book. 

I need to be honest and say that this book is pretty lengthy, self-conscious and a challenging read if it is your first book about psychology. But you will gain a lots out of this book when you only give it a try. 

This book gives you a fascinating and very interesting study of the human mind. But also about how people make decisions together with how the decision-making process can be improved.

This book was written by a Nobel-prize-winning economist which can be trusted that he isn’t feeding us bull shit. 

I give this book 4 / 5