Book Review of Nudge by Thaler and Sunstein

I really wanted to love this book. It is a best seller and is written about a topic I love. However, even though I found the book informative, it seemed to go on forever. Perhaps my focus on psychology made me a bit less satisfied with this book which seemed to focus on a political agenda. The authors talk about "libertarian paternalism" as a way of nudging people towards good decisions around food, money, safety, and other issues.

The research is good. Humans are easily nudged, and I must agree that helping people make good choices is a good thing. There is a bit of a big-brother under-tone that disturbed me. Do I want to be nudged in the direction that a libertarian feels is best for me? Of course the other option is to nudged in the direction the media or product manufacturer chooses.

The psychology is solid. Given a set of standard options we humans will usually choose the standard options given. Advertise junk food and we will probably buy more junk food than fruit. Put good choices in easy reach and we will probably choose them. I can see how this might help me make good 401K choices or food choice or health care choices. Clearly numbing people with too many choices, such as Medicare D prescription plans, is not effective. Less options usually do make us happier in the end.

Here are my issues with the book. After the first chapter or two, I found nothing new. Same theory applied to different subject areas. There did seem to be this selling of the libertarian paternalism point of view. The book bogged down and I found that I wanted to skip ahead to get through each chapter.

There are some good points in the book and it is worth a quick read. The general psychological statements about humans are true and good to know. People wanting to design a world that is safer and provides easier choices will find a great deal of advice. Students of psychology and marketing will find some good advice too