The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds
by Michael Lewis, 2016

Prospect Theory, along with Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman’s other work on behavioral biases and heuristics, has significantly influenced modern thinking on human behavior. This book by Michael Lewis peals back the curtain to tell of the setting in which their work was created. You learn the story of Amos’ and Daniel’s past, as well as understanding the academic conversation that their work altered/overturned. I was already very familiar with their work (see review of Thinking, Fast and Slow, here), so this book didn’t add much to my academic understanding, but it did humanize scientific theory development a bit.

While the discussion of Kahneman and Tversky’s personal relationship and eventual difficulties may have been accurate, it was just sad to read. And I worry that Lewis may have been reading too much into it at points. With that qualification, I enjoyed the book. There are even ample basketball references to tide over the sports fan in me. I listened on CD.