Six Terrific Books About Decision Making by Non-psychologists

And one bonus book about the brain

People who want to learn more about psychology sometimes ask me to recommend books, and I find this difficult. It’s a big field, and there are so many books. I find it easier to give more focused recommendations, like coming up with Eight Recommended Books About Good and Evil.

There is a certain category of psychology books that I’m fond of and like to recommend—those that are not written by psychologists, and so depict our field in interesting and unconventional ways. So I decided to make a list of favorites, each a delight to read, none of which is written by a clinician or a psychology professor.

What makes a psychology book? It can’t just provide insights about the mind. This would include books from fields like sociology, anthropology, philosophy, and so on. It would probably also include all good novels. So, my criterion is narrower—it has to make direct contact with theory and research from the field of psychology.

As I started to list the books, I realized that so many had to do with decision-making, so “Six Terrific Books About Psychology by Non-psychologists” got changed to the more specific “Six Terrific Books about Decision Making by Non-psychologists.” But I couldn’t resist adding a seventh book on a different topic.

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The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don't, By Julia Galef, writer, speaker, and podcaster.

At the end of 2021, the Chronicle of Higher Education put together a list of “Best Scholarly Book” recommendations and asked me to contribute. Here’s an excerpt of what I wrote (the full piece is here).

I’m not proud of this, but I am often too quick to accept stories and findings that support my views and the views of my tribe—and often too critical of whatever challenges these views. I tend to think the best of my friends and the worst of my enemies. I often find it unpleasant to be proven wrong. All of this is to say that I sometimes have what Julia Galef calls “a Soldier Mindset”, treating my beliefs as valued positions to be defended against enemy attacks …

In her wonderful first book, The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don't, Julia Galef appreciates where this Soldier Mindset comes from: “We use motivated reasoning not because we don’t know any better, but because we’re trying to protect things that are vitally important to us—our ability to feel good about our lives and ourselves, our motivation to try hard things and stick with them, our ability to look good and persuade, and our acceptance in our communities.” But she argues we can do better. We can adopt a Scout Mindset. We can work to see the world as it is, not how we want it to be.

Galef does several things in this book. She makes the case for the Scout Mindset, arguing it’s not just better for society, it’s better for individuals—it makes us more intellectually nimble, more self-aware, better able to rationally plan our futures. It can even make us more attractive social partners. Galef gives concrete advice on how to better think about risk and uncertainty, and how to escape our echo chambers. She ends by advising us to “hold our identity lightly”, trying not to let the groups we identify with have too much sway on our sense of self. 

Some of these “You Are Doing Things Wrong” books can be rough reading, but not this one. Galef tells some great stories, she is open to objections and qualifications, and is honest and often funny about her own tendencies toward motivated reasoning. And she holds her own identity lightly, just as one would expect from a good Scout. 

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The Biggest Bluff: How I Learned to Pay Attention, Master Myself, and Win. By Maria Konnikova, writer and professional poker player.

I’m stretching things a bit since Konnikova got a psychology PhD. from Columbia—but she’s not a psych prof, so she counts.¹

The Biggest Bluff is a highly enjoyable book that chronicles Konnikova’s journey from a novice at poker to a world champion—but it’s not just that. It’s an exploration of decision-making in the wild, weaving together a personal story with psychological research—about reason, emotions, attention, self-control, and much else—and making interesting claims about what goes into making wise choices.

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Transformative Experience. By Laurie Paul, a Yale philosophy professor who occasionally collaborates with psychologists but isn’t one herself.

(Not that anyone cares, but I’ll admit to a conflict: Laurie is a close friend, and she and I have long debated these issues.)

This is a fascinating book on a fascinating topic—how we choose (and how we should choose) whether or not to make radical life changes, such as becoming a parent. And it has a great beginning:

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WIld Problems: A Guide to the Decisions that Define Us, By Russ Roberts, economist, podcaster, and University president.

Roberts, an economist himself, makes a powerful case that economic cost-benefit analyses can only get you so far. This is a humane book—there is a warmth and wisdom to Roberts’ writing; he has a real affection for and curiosity about everyday decision makers—but it carries real bite. If he is right, then so much of the social sciences is on the wrong track.

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Trying Not to Try: The Art and Science of Spontaneity. By Edward Slingerland, professor of philosophy and scholar of Chinese thought.

This delightful book isn’t so much about how to decide what to do; it’s more about how to be cool while doing it. I blurbed it, and this is what I said:

"‘I'll give it a try,’ says Luke Skywalker, and Yoda snaps: ‘Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try.’ In this fascinating book, Edward Slingerland brings together ancient Chinese philosophy and contemporary cognitive science to solve the secret of wu-wei—the art of acting effortlessly and spontaneously, of being active and effective, even brilliant, without ever trying. The book itself is a testament to the power of wu-wei, as Slingerland explores rich and intricate ideas with confidence, clarity, and grace. Trying Not to Try is intellectually stimulating, a pleasure to read, and might well change your life."

(I also recommend Slingerland’s next book, Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization.)

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Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life. By Rory Sutherland, advertising executive.

Like Kornikova’s book, this is about decision-making in the trenches. Sutherland is in the business of getting people to buy things—to make decisions that make him and his clients money.

If I were teaching a course in decision-making and had to assign one book, it would be this one. Alchemy is rich with ideas—all killer, no filler. If you were to highlight every cool example, striking finding, and clever proposal, you’d have a sea of yellow.

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The last isn’t about decision-making at all, but I’m not going to post another list of psychology books written by non-psychologists, and I didn’t want to leave this out.

The Idea of the Brain: The Past and Future of Neuroscience. By Matthew Cobb, a professor of Zoology.

This is a superb review of the history of neuroscience, but I got the most out of Cobb’s discussion of where we are right now. He nicely summarizes the most exciting current research programs around but he is sharply skeptical about many of them, reminding the reader of how little we actually know about the brain and how it works. This is a great book for anyone interested in learning about neuroscience—and I’d recommend it as well for many of my more neuro-crazed psychology professor colleagues.

1. It turns out that there are two female professional poker players who got PhDs in Psychology from Ivy League universities, became world champions, and now write books about decision-making. The other is Annie Duke. I’ve heard great things about her book Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have All the Facts and hope to read it in the next few months.