The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less
Author: Barry Schwartz
Rating: ā 3/5
Date Read: 2016/11/29
Pages: 265
Have I read this one before? Because it really feels like Iāve read this one before.
I know I havenāt actually read The Paradox of Choice, forgotten it, and then picked it up again years later only to find it intensely familiar. My book-related record keeping is far too complete and obsessive for that. I chose this book because itās a classic, one that has been oft referenced in other books that Iāve enjoyed. While I can fault the book for being somewhat repetitive, I canāt fault it for being influential. My three star rating feels disingenuous, kind of like the people who claim The Beatles are unoriginal because a ton of other bands have copied them. However, I think Iāve already established that my ratings are capricious, and violate all sorts of statistical assumptions, and are generally a bad use of a continuous, quantitative measure. Iām okay with that.
If you havenāt read all those books that cite this book, the main idea is that that we have more choices than ever before, and we have a lay presumption that those choices should make us happy. Unfortunately, empirical research suggests that more choices actually make us more overwhelmed, less satisfied when we do reach a decision, and more likely to avoid making any decisions altogether. Additionally, some people (maximizers) are caught up with making only the best decisions; Schwartz postulates a causal relationship between increased choice and depression, although this hypothesis is fairly speculative. Iām apparently a maximizer, because my Netflix ritual involves scrolling through all the movies for twenty minutes looking for the best one, getting frustrated, and turning on Friends reruns again.
One terrifying insight from this book is that 2004 was kind of a long time ago. I sort of knew this already, because Iāve recently had some Cabernet Sauvignon from 2004 that had developed a really lovely bouquet. The examples provided in this book range from buying a new CD player, to shopping around for long distance service, to picking out a movie from the video rental store. Schwartz mentions that real estate is usually a good investment! Thereās even a hypothetical recent college grad who is fielding four different job offers (!!) and making trade-offs between a great salary with only moderate room for advancement, and a good salary with lots of room for advancement. In 2016, that kid is totally back at home living with his parents, bemoaning the fact that entry level jobs in his field require six years of experience and a masters degree, and still barely pay above minimum wage. (Note: my iPad just tried to autocorrect jobs to Joās. Twice. Even my iPad knows that jobs donāt really exist anymore.)
Overall, this is a quick read, but much of the same material has been covered elsewhere, more recently, and with fewer antiquated references to print media and cassette tapes. A contemporary reader would likely find [b:Thinking, Fast and Slow|11468377|Thinking, Fast and Slow|Daniel Kahneman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1317793965s/11468377.jpg|16402639], [b:Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions|1713426|Predictably Irrational The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions|Dan Ariely|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1255573980s/1713426.jpg|3074803], or [b:Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics|26530355|Misbehaving The Making of Behavioral Economics|Richard H. Thaler|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1459531022s/26530355.jpg|42871209] much more interesting.
