Everything Is Obvious: How Common Sense Fails Us

Everything Is Obvious

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Sale price  $17.00 Regular price 
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Everything Is Obvious: How Common Sense Fails Us

Everything Is Obvious

$17.00
Sale price  $17.00 Regular price 
Unit price $17.00 each
By understanding how and when common sense fails, we can improve our understanding of the present and better plan for the future.

Drawing on the latest scientific research, along with a wealth of historical and contemporary examples, Watts shows how common sense reasoning and history conspire to mislead us into believing that we understand more about the world of human behavior than we do; and in turn, why attempts to predict, manage, or manipulate social and economic systems so often go awry.

It seems obvious, for example, that people respond to incentives; yet policy makers and managers alike frequently fail to anticipate how people will respond to the incentives they create. Social trends often seem to be driven by certain influential people; yet marketers have been unable to identify these "influencers" in advance. And although successful products or companies always seem in retrospect to have succeeded because of their unique qualities, predicting the qualities of the next hit product or hot company is notoriously difficult even for experienced professionals.

Watts' argument has important implications in politics, business, and marketing, as well as in science and everyday life.

Book Details

ISBN
9780307951793
Binding
Paperback
Authors
Duncan J Watts
Publisher
Crown Publishing Group
Published Date
June 26, 2012
Language
English
Pages
368
Physical Info
0.89 in H x 8.04 in L x 5.25 in W (0.62 lb)

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