The Upside of Irrationality by Dan Ariely

The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home by Dan Ariely
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I gave it only 4 stars because there is a lot of overlap with Arely's other book, Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions. In particular, I think Predictably Irrational also addressed how high wages or bonuses are demotivating, how the "Sisyphean condition" at work is demotivating, and how we overvalue our own work.

I really enjoyed the new sections on adaption, "assortative mating" which is economist talk for hot people pairing up together, dating inefficiencies and how to potentially make them more efficient, and the joys of consumer revenge (though I'm certain that's not how Ariely would describe that section). There was also an interesting section on how we tend to follow our own example. Once we have behaved a particular way, we view our choices so positively that we continue to behave in that way. Mind-bending.

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