♥ Nothing Better Than Reading!! ♥ discussion

Let's get cracking! :)

Fireworks?:-D:-D

Finally! :D
Hi Harsha, Hi Meera :):)
And Ishita :P

Hello! :P

So quick, Fong :P
Well, welcome to your new home, I guess! Both of you :)

I'll be back later, I'm going out right now. Thanks for setting up the thread Harsha. We start tonight :)

Ishita and Harsha....Have a superb read....

*Can I spam infrequently?*

Thanks Meera :)
Yes, you can! Read along if you like!

Thanks for the invite...Let"s see......:-):-):-)

what are you both reading???

Well, I love cognitive psychology :P

Hi everyone!!

@Misha, Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions

@Harsha. ....looks complicated !:-D:-D

The blurb seems interesting, and it's apparently similar to Freakonomics.. :)

Okay so I just got back home about 30mins ago and started reading the Introduction of the book. I cannot get the picture of the author as an 18 year old boy screaming in pain from the bath treatment out of my head! I had to stop after 6 pages :| I think I'll continue after a little while now..
How about you ?

Oh graphic, I have to reread that part, didn't remember :P

Help yourself! Although I don't think it is the kinda introduction I'd be able forget .______.

Yeah, that was brutal. But to be fair to the author, he doesn't dramatize it as one would expect...

He's being modest about it, I agree. But then I didn't mean anything else. I just empathize with him and I just can't get the image out.

I literally had to put the book down and I haven't picked it up back yet :|
Idk why but it's affecting me so much!
I'll maybe pick it up again in a while if I could get the image out :|

How far have you read?

Just finished the intro.. Started Chapter 1. I'm just glad I have a free subscription of the Economist :D

P.S: I hear Schadenfreude helps, especially when you can't get an image out of your head..
http://goo.gl/SnPpsA

Thanks for the link :)
I got it out already. Cousins might've been a distraction. I was able to pick it up again after they went home last night. I don't have the image reeling again and again now but it's just changed my perspective towards the author. And I have no idea why am I feeling so much empathy even though he's wrote nothing even remotely pathetic. I still keep finding myself drifting in that direction and then I feel hit by it again :|

Anyway, I finished the first chapter last night too. It kinda makes you think, no?
Lol, the smart heads couldn't get to you with their tempting offers? :P
But I don't understand one thing- okay the decoy theory does apply to some places but what about the cases where it doesn't? He never got a 100% result and yet he's never talking about those others.
And secondly, I understand how the decoy could make the original look good but I don't understand how does it make the alternative look inferior. Like take the vacations example- Rome is definitely better than (-Rome) but how does this make Rome look better than Paris which is equally desirable to us? Coz when I applied the theory to myself, I simply eliminated the decoy but then I was still conflicted amongst the two others which was also our original question!

I think he just wants us to be careful when comparing between deals. Marketeers do this kind of thing all the time. Apple did it with the 5c & 5s..
In the city example, if you had to compare between -Rome and Paris, it would still be a very close decision(assuming no bias). +Rome would be a sweetener and you would probably think you're getting a better deal out of it as you were almost indifferent between -Rome and Paris.
That said, I'm sure there'll be more extrapolation which might make little sense .. :)

Yeah well, that makes a little more sense! :P
Did you start the second chapter yet? :)

Nah, Last day at home.. Might read tomorrow. Please take it slow :)

Hey, don't worry about it :)
Have fun with your family, hope you had a terrific last day :)

Hey Harsha! Still on vacation, are you? :P

Well, it's 3 AM here and "la nuit est jeune!".. Quite some vacation indeed:P

It's 3 AM here too :P
Where do you think I am from? Lol!

Ah, I can see that! So how was it, eh? Missing home already? Not yet? :D

Haha.. Had some bloody assignment. Home seems like a distinct memory already :(

Holidays still going on?

That reminds of my presentations and assignments starting next week :(
Aww, how much time have you got left to complete your degree? :)

Not exactly :P but kind of! It was the Global Investors' Meet here and Modi and all were coming too so the city's been on a sort of hold. I only had 2 working days this week so I took 'em off :P

Just over 18 months :P

Haha..Good stuff :)

Yeah, just about the corner :P

So did you get any reading done? :P

Nah.. I really meant it when I said slow :(

How's your luck?

LOL, I can see :P
It's okay :)

I'm on track! I'll complete chapter 9 tonight and since you're taking it slow.. I think I'll do 2 chapters a day and finish the book by 14th! would that be okay? My presentations and college fest all start next week so won't be able to get much done! And it's Diwali after that :P

how far in are you BTW? :)

Oooo, what are you writing?

We're not writing anything JB, we're reading a Cognitive Psychology- Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariley

Woah! Chapter 9 already!! I'm still struck at chapter 4. Leave a couple for post-Diwali :) Or you could read them again :P

Chapter 4 was spot on..

Yeah but I was kinda bored until the 5th chapter :P
I felt like I was sitting in a Managerial Behavior class!
The book gets much more interesting from the 5th :D

I'll re-read them :P
I've been slacking on a lot of stuff these days, if I put this down, I'll start procrastinating :P

Hahaha... Nice pep talk :P

Wasn't there supposed to be a chapter on procrastination too? Didn't it help? :D

Well, it did! So much that now I've set a goal to finish the book and therefore I shall meet my obligations *stern look*

:P

Done? :P

Chapter 5 is quite something :D

It is, isn't it? :D
Ever experimented with yourself? XD

No, I slacked yesterday. Will finish tomorrow :)

Hahahaha.. Don't expect any research reports though :P

I've already got quizzes from day after.. So, I'll probably be taking a break too..

So does that mean you tried though? XD

DW, take it at your own pace :)

Not verbatim per se.. :D

I love the insights the book gives though, not to mention the wide variety of topics :)

Haha, think I can live with that :P

I agree. It makes you think on each and every topic and we try keeping ourselves in place of those candidates in the experiments. But I think we don't yield the same results because we already know the conditions and the way the author wants us to react which makes us biased.

I finished the book! Quiet interesting :D

Kudos!! :) Have you read the Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking?

I TBRed it! It came up along some recs :P
You want to do that or some other genre now? How about a horror for Halloween? :D