Michael Lewis wrote The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Change Our Minds. This story is about the lives of Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky. Honestly I am not sure why it took me so long to read this book. Kahneman’s book Thinking Fast and Slow was very enjoyable (my review here) and one that I think about often.
Lewis acknowledged this story was a result of his bestseller Moneyball.
He learned the insights to data he was seeking about baseball was already available from Kahneman and Tversky.
Daniel accepted the Nobel Prize in 2002 for his work. He acknowledged it should have been a joint award with Amos, who died from cancer eight years earlier.
Kahneman and Tversky focused on behavioral economics known as heuristics in judgment and decision-making. Their unique collaboration proved how unreliable human intuition can be. The results of their research can be staggering. For over twenty years they worked to prove our minds play tricks on us. This is simply based upon inaccurate memories and false stereotypes.
Lewis uses Jeremy Lin as an example throughout the book. On a basic level it seems simple. Their stories follow their childhoods in Europe feeling the Germans during World War II. Lewis showed how they developed into Neil Simon’s Odd Couple, writing about their research methods by way of their office organization.
As Lewis describes their relationship, one cannot help but imagine them sharing one brain. Lewis recounts how spending so much time together they were finishing each other’s sentences. When they worked at separate universities, they would fly and meet every weekend to talk. This relationship was extraordinary.
Together Kahneman and Tversky wrote a series of research papers proving our assumptions about decision-making, a process the we are executing incorrectly. Their research proves powerful trends to mistrust human intuition and defer to algorithms.
Lewis reveals how Tversky was self-confident and an extrovert. He was the star of every academic gathering. Kahneman on the other hand is an introvert always questioning his self worth. Kahneman’s book reveals how Amos was fast while Daniel was slow in thinking about their research. This led to the appropriate title of his book.
Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler wrote an article in the NewYorker about Amos and Daniel. It is very touching. Thaler is a Nobel Prize winner in economics while Sunstein collaborated with Kahneman.
In the end Lewis makes you think of a friend or colleague in your life that just begins to touch the remarkable relationship of Amos and Daniel.