Influence: Science and Practice by Robert Cialdini

Influence: Science and Practice by Robert Cialdini

…when it comes to freedoms, it is more dangerous to have given for a while than never to have given at all

Influence is one of the most popular books on social psychology ever to be written. It seems that Dr. Cialdini has attempted not to make this book too technical so that it can reach masses. He starts by explaining that we have a click,whirr mechanism- when we receive certain cues we react in specific ways without thinking too much. For instance, when we see some people going in a direction in crowd, we assume that it is the right direction by principle of social proof.

Dr. Cialdini has tried to make the material interesting by citing several anecdotes. He has also cited research work to prove his hypotheses from time to time. However, it seems that the book is meant for a more non-scientific audience. Writing in the vernacular about complex ideas of psychology does not seem to be an easy task, but Dr. Cialdini has been able to pull it off. While some ideas in the book are novel, most are derived from other psychologists. This is not unexpected since the book strives to be a compilation of techniques people use to influence others.

I found it a bit hard to maintain interest in some topics of the book since I had read them in other books by Elliot Aronson and Daniel Kahneman. I think Kahneman's system 1 and system 2 are just like Cialdini's click, whirr. Personally, I prefer Elliot’s work over the other two due to its scientific structure. I don't think that someone who is interested in social psychology could go wrong with either of these three authors.

I recommend this work for people who’d like to understand the science of influence in a slightly non-scientific way.

Thinking Fast & Slow By Daniel Kahneman

Thinking Fast & Slow By Daniel Kahneman
..Nothing in life is as important as you think it is when you are thinking about it.

While the subtitle of this review might seem to imply that the book lies in the self-help category, it actually alludes to one of the biases of human cognition- the focusing illusion. We are conditioned to predict overall state of our life based on very small (and even unrelated ) events such as fortuitously finding a coin lying somewhere before rating our overall satisfaction in life. Daniel Kahneman’s work is about biases such as availability bias & anchoring that affect a lot of our decisions. He makes demonstrable claims that challenge the rational agent model of economics and brings to the fore a new field- behavioral economics. This work is not merely a description of biases, but a strong foundation in how we can make better decisions in our lives by becoming aware of them and working towards knowing when we are biased.

It took me about a year to complete this book because of two reasons:

1. It has a lot of redundant information in form of examples. Kahneman doesn't merely make sure that his theories are clear in the minds of the reader but tries to introduce them to the way reader thinks.

2. There is a lot to ruminate in each chapter before one can move to the next chapter.

I did not want to consume this work in one go, but go through it slowly, learning something every week.

While the first point renders the book dull sometimes, I don’t think it is without merit. The work is written in simple language and sufficient examples to make any reader appreciate its content. While Kahneman does seem to be gloating in certain paragraphs, it wasn't much of a pain to go through it because of the excellent content.

I highly recommend this work to everyone who wants to make better decisions. This work is lauded as one of the greatest work in behavioral economics, and I think everyone can benefit from this kind of research.

 

The First World War By Michael Howard

The First World War By Michael Howard

‘So on 11 November at 11 a.m., the eleventh hour of the eleventh day

of the eleventh month, the guns on the Western Front at last fell

silent, leaving both sides to mourn their dead.’

Being new to this subject, I would be at fault if I were to review this work without having some kind of benchmark. This benchmark would have to be The First World War mini-series by Jonathan Lewis. It is a 500 minutes-ten episode documentary on the First world war. I realize that this kind of comparison – of a film and a book may seem absurd, but I would try to treat the documentary a benchmark only in terms of its content , not form.

I believe that  Michael Howard has been quite successful in giving a brief introduction to first world war. While going through the 500 minute documentary it seemed that I had at least some idea of what I was watching because I had already read Howard’s book.

I cannot say that Howard’s work is completely objective, considering that his comments on the events do seem to have certain connotations attached to them which seemed more like Howard’s own beliefs and interpretations rather than the world’s.  However, I was more than okay with this bias since it helped me remember the events and understand their effects on the future events. For a reader who is just starting to explore a new subject area, this kind of bias may help him understand the work critically and make sure that he does not lose interest in it. More importantly it can help him get some idea of whether the event was ‘good’ or ‘bad’- this duality, real or not, occupies human mind and seems to appeal to it. I find Howard’s writing style easy to follow and not pedantic. This keeps this work open to a general reader.

While I am in no position to compare this work with some other introductory works on first world war, I can say, with some confidence, that this will help the reader understand the context of first world war- why it was fought, what did it mean and what contribution has it had in the current world view.

This work is recommended! If coupled with the documentary, it is sure to give a good idea of the events of first world war to the reader.

The philosophy of law By Raymond Wacks

The philosophy of law By Raymond Wacks

                ..Since the law is a vehicle of class oppression, it is unnecessary in a classless society.

Law, whether a crucial instrument, or an unnecessary tool, whether detached from morals or not, has been one of the most discussed topics along with politics and technology. From the natural law of seen in ‘Universal Declaration of Human Rights’ to the law as seen under the lens of deconstruction of  Jacques Derrida’s postmodernist theory, 20^th century has seen it all.

This introductory text by Raymond Wacks does not either aspire to or attempt to cover in exhaustive detail what law is or what its purpose is, but it succeeds in providing simple explanations of topics such as natural law, legal positivism, rights , critical legal theory etc. that are key to understanding other more complex and specific topics and cases.

I was able to understand most of the text without the need of any external resource. However, some knowledge of some of the works of philosophers such as Hume, Hobbes, Marx and Derrida can be quite helpful in getting even more from this text.

I recommend this text to all those who want to start reading law, although my recommendation must be taken with a pinch of salt since this is my foray into philosophy of law.