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The Art of Thinking Clearly: Better Thinking, Better Decisions
Product Description
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
THE TIMES BESTSELLER
GUARDIAN BESTSELLER
AMAZON TOP TEN BESTSELLER
THE SECRETS OF PERFECT DECISION-MAKING
Have you ever... Invested time in something that, with hindsight, just wasn't worth it?
Overpaid in an Ebay auction? Continued doing something you knew was bad for you?
Sold stocks too late, or too early? Taken credit for success, but blamed failure on external circumstances? Backed the wrong horse?
These are examples of cognitive biases, simple errors we all make in our day-to-day thinking. But by knowing what they are and how to spot them, we can avoid them and make better choices - whether dealing with a personal problem or a business negotiation; trying to save money or make money; working out what we do or don't want in life, and how best to get it.
Already an international bestseller, THE ART OF THINKING CLEARLY is essential reading for anyone with important decisions to make. It reveals, in 100 short chapters, the most common errors of judgement, and how to avoid them. Simple, clear and always surprising, this indispensable book will change the way you think and transform your decision-making - at work, at home, every day.
Review
“A fireworks show of insights into how our minds work. If you want to avoid tripping on cognitive errors, read this book.” (Iris Bohnet, Professor and Academic Dean, Harvard Kennedy School, Director of the Harvard Decision Science Laboratory)
“Dobelli examines our most common decision-making failings with engaging eloquence and describes how to counter them with instructive good sense.” (Robert Cialdini, author of Influence)
“…a serious examination of the faulty reasoning that leads to repeated mistakes by individuals, businesses, and nations…In this fascinating book, Dobelli does not offer a recipe for happiness but a well-considered treatise on avoiding ‘self-induced unhappiness.’” (Booklist (starred review))
“…easy-going prose…what [Dobelli] does is pinpoint exactly the assumptions, bias and illusions that shape our thinking and decision-making processes in both business and personal relationships that can cost us dearly as individuals and as a society.” (Financial Times)
Book Description
Already a huge bestseller in Europe, this is essential reading for anyone with important decisions to make, in the vein of THINKING, FAST AND SLOW and THE DECISION BOOK.
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
THE TIMES BESTSELLER
GUARDIAN BESTSELLER
AMAZON TOP TEN BESTSELLER
THE SECRETS OF PERFECT DECISION-MAKING
Have you ever... Invested time in something that, with hindsight, just wasn't worth it?
Overpaid in an Ebay auction? Continued doing something you knew was bad for you?
Sold stocks too late, or too early? Taken credit for success, but blamed failure on external circumstances? Backed the wrong horse?
These are examples of cognitive biases, simple errors we all make in our day-to-day thinking. But by knowing what they are and how to spot them, we can avoid them and make better choices - whether dealing with a personal problem or a business negotiation; trying to save money or make money; working out what we do or don't want in life, and how best to get it.
Already an international bestseller, THE ART OF THINKING CLEARLY is essential reading for anyone with important decisions to make. It reveals, in 100 short chapters, the most common errors of judgement, and how to avoid them. Simple, clear and always surprising, this indispensable book will change the way you think and transform your decision-making - at work, at home, every day.
Review
“A fireworks show of insights into how our minds work. If you want to avoid tripping on cognitive errors, read this book.” (Iris Bohnet, Professor and Academic Dean, Harvard Kennedy School, Director of the Harvard Decision Science Laboratory)
“Dobelli examines our most common decision-making failings with engaging eloquence and describes how to counter them with instructive good sense.” (Robert Cialdini, author of Influence)
“…a serious examination of the faulty reasoning that leads to repeated mistakes by individuals, businesses, and nations…In this fascinating book, Dobelli does not offer a recipe for happiness but a well-considered treatise on avoiding ‘self-induced unhappiness.’” (Booklist (starred review))
“…easy-going prose…what [Dobelli] does is pinpoint exactly the assumptions, bias and illusions that shape our thinking and decision-making processes in both business and personal relationships that can cost us dearly as individuals and as a society.” (Financial Times)
Book Description
Already a huge bestseller in Europe, this is essential reading for anyone with important decisions to make, in the vein of THINKING, FAST AND SLOW and THE DECISION BOOK.
Kindle Edition
Published August 4, 2019
130 people are currently reading
1339 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
March 28, 2020
It’s a wonderful thinking errors book that you can get back at any time to recheck your thinking process and decision making process. I truly love the ending of the book where the author advises us on taking decisions that require rational thinking slowly and with lots of considerations. Those decisions which do not really harm us should just be intuitively made for the sake of our minds, as thinking is truly tiring.
February 10, 2021
The book is not so much about how to think critically but rather it tells you about 99 fallacies. Now, when you're aware of the systematic biases of your thinking that may help you think more critically. But then this is a roundabout way of getting you to think critically and not what the book's title and cover promise.
Each chapter is short, a page or three long. And honestly, some of the anecdotes seem off, which makes me doubt the author really knows what he's talking about (to some extent). If we're talking cognitive fallacies, then this book employs the one of authoritative voice by name-dropping NN Taleb in the introduction; and the popularity one because for some reason this is a NYT bestseller and has loads of positive reviews.
Finally, this is 2021, you know all those fallacies already. If you want more in-depth stuff, it's out there. And if you want this book, you'll get the some content on wikipedia.
(I bought this book for €1 and was disappointed; I imagine it's much more of a let down at full price.)
Also, the author is as it says on the cover, I have no idea who Imnet Ernest is.
Each chapter is short, a page or three long. And honestly, some of the anecdotes seem off, which makes me doubt the author really knows what he's talking about (to some extent). If we're talking cognitive fallacies, then this book employs the one of authoritative voice by name-dropping NN Taleb in the introduction; and the popularity one because for some reason this is a NYT bestseller and has loads of positive reviews.
Finally, this is 2021, you know all those fallacies already. If you want more in-depth stuff, it's out there. And if you want this book, you'll get the some content on wikipedia.
(I bought this book for €1 and was disappointed; I imagine it's much more of a let down at full price.)
Also, the author is as it says on the cover, I have no idea who Imnet Ernest is.
December 31, 2019
I found this book an excellent brief on most human made errors and I assure you that it assisted me on thinking more clearly in my business and life decisions so far. I have read it twice in 2019, and I am still reading random chapters from it.
December 18, 2020
A short compedium of 99 cognitive errors explained in short and acompanied of examples and anecdotes.
Highly readable and absolutely enjoyable.
If you are interested in cognitive piscology or decision making do not wait to read this book.
Highly readable and absolutely enjoyable.
If you are interested in cognitive piscology or decision making do not wait to read this book.
April 3, 2022
Composed of 99 short episodes of human’s cognitive biases, this book is very readable and enjoyable. If you have patience and stamina, read Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman instead.
February 21, 2024
My favorite book so far about thinking and how the brain works. The chapters are light 3-4 pages, and everyone is interesting. Not too dense and makes me want to continue learning about this subject. Also it is very clear about how regardless of how much we can learn about how the brain works, how we think it does not necessarily mean we can then control it. We can understand it better, appreciate how complex our brains are, maybe give ourselves some slack for our "errors", maybe we can get some helpful tools to use but otherwise just get on with your life
January 16, 2023
Enjoyable easy read, each section summarises a different aspect of social interactions, suggestions, and biases that can impact decision-making and thinking.
May 8, 2020
A great pinpoint on errors we make in work and personal life, and how we can learn to avoid those and discern between what’s bias and what’s not.
It’s a guide we can always come back to thanks to the concision of chapters and facts presented. Which makes it easy to read and refer back to when needed. I strongly recommend it!
It’s a guide we can always come back to thanks to the concision of chapters and facts presented. Which makes it easy to read and refer back to when needed. I strongly recommend it!
September 18, 2025
The Art of Thinking Clearly is a philosophy/self-help book written by Rolf Dobelli. It is a collage of biases, fallacies, and allusions in no particular order that are accompanied by the author’s own personal experiences. The author explains each of the common critical thinking mistakes and how to avoid them. I loved how easy the author made it to understand each of the terms, and I also really loved having the author give stories from his life about each one. Something I disliked was that the author assumes you already know the initial critical thinking fallacies, making it hard for new philosophy students to get into this book. Overall, I’d give the book a solid 10/10 for anyone looking for ways to improve their critical thinking skills and getting their train of thought under control. I think the book did everything it promised, and I’m happy to have read it.
While this book does not have a plot, due to it being a non fiction book about philosophy, it does exemplify the genre through its comprehensive and easy to understand analysis of multiple cognitive biases, ranging from confirmation bias to even the complex illusory effect. Dobelli does exceptionally well in fluently writing easy to understand text, and his organization of all the terms significantly aids in the reader's ease of use. The pacing of each cognitive fallacy was great, and the author did a splendid job bringing the whole thing together. I can’t wait to read more of Dobelli’s works. Dobelli made a phenomenal book suited for anyone with an interest in philosophy.
While this book does not have a plot, due to it being a non fiction book about philosophy, it does exemplify the genre through its comprehensive and easy to understand analysis of multiple cognitive biases, ranging from confirmation bias to even the complex illusory effect. Dobelli does exceptionally well in fluently writing easy to understand text, and his organization of all the terms significantly aids in the reader's ease of use. The pacing of each cognitive fallacy was great, and the author did a splendid job bringing the whole thing together. I can’t wait to read more of Dobelli’s works. Dobelli made a phenomenal book suited for anyone with an interest in philosophy.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 24, 2022
Art of thinking clearly by Rolf Dobelli is an incredible read, discussing extensively the human cognitive biases comprise 99 short chapters, each elaborated with practical examples. Though, it's not easy to memorise all these biases but reading slowly and reflecting upon your every action while going through the daily chaos of life can work a great deal. The book opens your mind to adopt ways of thinking clearly after realising the biasedness of most thinking patterns based upon your upbringing, your social or family environment and culture. The book helped me to inspect my thoughts and decisions regarding trivial life matters and set a path to thinking rationally. Before reading this book I perceive my thoughts behind every action to be logical 😅 but to my dismay, it opened my eyes and I learned something new about myself. I found most of the biases underlying my thinking pattern, though, not all of them 😂 . Thank God, my pocket money did not go wasted. It's a self-help book for every individual working for personal growth and development. Would I like to read it again? Yes! A must read and recommendation. 👍
My Ratings are 4.5 out of 5.
My Ratings are 4.5 out of 5.
October 19, 2022
I was positively surprised by this book. I bought it while waiting for a train to pass time and in an absolutely positive way I think that is what this book is really good at. The book contains 99 common thinking errors. Each error having one chapter of exactly three pages. Every chapter contains multiple stories and examples and a brief explanation of the fallacy. Since the chapters aren't linked and don't build on each other, it makes it so easy to just pick up the book and read.
While I did enjoy this book a lot, it does sometimes feel a little "unscientific" (for lack of a better word). The author quite often uses evolutionary psychology to back what he is saying, but it doesn't go much further than hunter-gatherer comparisons. I think this is fine though, since the book is more about understanding how we think, not why we think that way.
TLDR: Great book to just pick up and read. It gives you plenty of things to think and talk about with fun examples and stories.
While I did enjoy this book a lot, it does sometimes feel a little "unscientific" (for lack of a better word). The author quite often uses evolutionary psychology to back what he is saying, but it doesn't go much further than hunter-gatherer comparisons. I think this is fine though, since the book is more about understanding how we think, not why we think that way.
TLDR: Great book to just pick up and read. It gives you plenty of things to think and talk about with fun examples and stories.
January 20, 2022
you might be ever in long toxic relationship (whatever relation it is), but you cant pull yourself from there cause it just the way it is or local people say "ya gimana? gue udah terlanjur sayang", or "mau gimana? udah terlanjur lama", okay dear, you're in error thinking called sunk cost fallacy.
.
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nature will never mind whether your decision is perfect or not, as long as we can maneuver what the life has given. but, identify the error thinking, i think, is a must, for at least showing us now in the right place, at least for now.
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buku yang seru untuk dibaca perlahan karena rupanya ketidak-tepatan berpikir dan ketidak-tahuan kita tentang pemikiran sendirilah yang kadang bikin kita bingung sendiri, seolah kita ngga kenal sama diri sendiri. kamu akan amaze setelah baca karena rupanya pola kamu berpikir selama ini ada nama dan teorinya 🤯 buku ini ngga ngasi tau cara berpikir yang benar, tapi ngasi insight kalau ngga semua things seem positive are always good. bisa gitu ya? 😂 tapi ya memang Nothing Beats Book for Understanding The World kok katanya 🤍
.
.
nature will never mind whether your decision is perfect or not, as long as we can maneuver what the life has given. but, identify the error thinking, i think, is a must, for at least showing us now in the right place, at least for now.
.
buku yang seru untuk dibaca perlahan karena rupanya ketidak-tepatan berpikir dan ketidak-tahuan kita tentang pemikiran sendirilah yang kadang bikin kita bingung sendiri, seolah kita ngga kenal sama diri sendiri. kamu akan amaze setelah baca karena rupanya pola kamu berpikir selama ini ada nama dan teorinya 🤯 buku ini ngga ngasi tau cara berpikir yang benar, tapi ngasi insight kalau ngga semua things seem positive are always good. bisa gitu ya? 😂 tapi ya memang Nothing Beats Book for Understanding The World kok katanya 🤍
November 19, 2020
Most people ought to read Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. This book has almost 100 quick chapters that cover the main hiccups in our thinking process. A book like this is often a lot better than any self-help book or positive thinking/inspirational fluff. Metacognition - thinking about how we think - is underrated. Learning more about biases and heuristics is very important. The only bad thing about this book is that the 99 biases/"syndromes." may have been unnecessary. Some were similar enough they could be combined. If people just learned the highest 20, they might be able to learn a lot.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 9, 2022
This book contains 99 biases (or logical fallacies) that we have.
I recommend this book to everyone because all of us suffer from biases in some form or another, and it's nearly impossible to get rid of all of them. But we can be self-aware of them, and try to minimize their effects.
The author tries to cover so many biases in such a short book, this results in very short chapters, which use anecdotes and "experiments" to show the bias in effect.
The arrangement of chapters was confusing, it would've been better if some of the related chapters were grouped, but instead, the author provides the reference to related chapters at the end of each chapter.
Overall, it's a nice book for anyone, especially, if you find yourself influenced by "expert opinions", news, politicians, etc.
I recommend this book to everyone because all of us suffer from biases in some form or another, and it's nearly impossible to get rid of all of them. But we can be self-aware of them, and try to minimize their effects.
The author tries to cover so many biases in such a short book, this results in very short chapters, which use anecdotes and "experiments" to show the bias in effect.
The arrangement of chapters was confusing, it would've been better if some of the related chapters were grouped, but instead, the author provides the reference to related chapters at the end of each chapter.
Overall, it's a nice book for anyone, especially, if you find yourself influenced by "expert opinions", news, politicians, etc.
June 28, 2024
Ever feel like your brain is playing tricks on you? In Rolf Dobelli's The Art of Thinking Clearly, you'll discover 99 ways your thinking can be clouded by hidden biases.
This book isn't a dry psychology textbook. Dobelli uses humor and real-world examples to explain these cognitive mistakes we all make. From the sunk cost fallacy to confirmation bias, you'll gain a deeper understanding of how your mind works – and how it can sometimes lead you astray.
The Art of Thinking Clearly isn't a magic bullet, but it's a valuable guide to becoming a more aware and rational thinker. It's a perfect read for anyone who wants to make better decisions in all areas of life.
This book isn't a dry psychology textbook. Dobelli uses humor and real-world examples to explain these cognitive mistakes we all make. From the sunk cost fallacy to confirmation bias, you'll gain a deeper understanding of how your mind works – and how it can sometimes lead you astray.
The Art of Thinking Clearly isn't a magic bullet, but it's a valuable guide to becoming a more aware and rational thinker. It's a perfect read for anyone who wants to make better decisions in all areas of life.
July 27, 2021
The book focuses on 99 fallacies of human thinking errors. The book is not about how to think rather how not to think. It is pretty interesting how we think and how much it is wrong. And the author points out ninety-nine wrong thinking and why they are wrong. The whole book is enriched with real-life examples that is we can relate to our life.
This book will help people to think more clearly. It will force people to think again when these scenarios come to their life.
This book will help people to think more clearly. It will force people to think again when these scenarios come to their life.
October 5, 2023
A great summary of fallacies and biases. This book is like a crash course on the subject for those who haven't read Taleb, Kanhman or other authors on similar subjects. For those who did read them, this is a great way to revise the learnings. Will definitely recommend adding this book to your library
April 27, 2022
Book by Rolf Dobelli.
Read this many years ago when I was still in the High School. The wording was quite difficult for me at that time, but the lessons r really useful n deep. Recommend it for anyone who need a guidiance to see things through a clear glass.
Read this many years ago when I was still in the High School. The wording was quite difficult for me at that time, but the lessons r really useful n deep. Recommend it for anyone who need a guidiance to see things through a clear glass.
March 30, 2023
Valuable and guiding.
This book brings you trough multiple fallacies and biases one could have in one's thinking.
It's certainly a good read and reread, easily skimable, but can be tricky to put those lessons into action.
Well done.
This book brings you trough multiple fallacies and biases one could have in one's thinking.
It's certainly a good read and reread, easily skimable, but can be tricky to put those lessons into action.
Well done.
November 14, 2025
I liked the short chapters as it made it easy to read on the side of other books, but I don’t know how much I actually learned from the book. Don’t feel like I’ll reread it any time soon either. Definitely some value for people, but not me and the way I learn I guess 😅 I’ll give it away.
July 3, 2020
A pocket dictionary of Cognitive Biases.
Currently reading
July 5, 2020It clearly highlights the various human psychological characteristics. I don't mind reading this for the rest of my life. 📖
July 11, 2020
It is just a good rephrasing of Robert Cialdini’s six elements of Influence
August 26, 2020
Wow! We pitfall in so many biases and "logical" explanations....
October 1, 2020
Rereading is a must
October 10, 2020
Brilliant
October 26, 2020
Good reference with ample anecdotes.
February 28, 2021
Better than many slef-help books, but not a self-help book.
April 23, 2021
You can keep going to this book when you think you are biased... To name your bias 😉
July 30, 2021
Great app
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews