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Choose Wisely
- Author
- Richard Schuldenfrei
- Narrator
- Grover Gardner
- Publisher
- Blackstone Publishing
- Publish Date
- 22 November 2025
- Run Time
- 9 hours 46 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
A leading psychologist and philosopher challenge the shortcomings of rational choice theory—and propose a new framework for understanding decision-making.
For many decision scientists, their starting point—drawn from economics—is a quantitative formula called rational choice theory, allowing people to calculate and choose the best options. The problem is that this framework assumes an overly simplistic picture of the world where different types of values can be quantified and compared, leading to the one “most rational” choice. Behavioral economics acknowledges that irrationality is common but still accepts the underlying belief from economics of what a rational decision should look like.
In this audiobook, the authors offer a different way to think about the choices we make every day. Drawing from economics, psychology, and philosophy—and both inspired by and challenging Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow—they show how the focus on rationality, narrowly understood, fails to fully describe how we think about our decisions, much less help us make better ones. Notably, it overlooks the positive contribution that framing—how we determine what aspects are most important to us—contributes to good decisions.
Schwartz and Schuldenfrei argue that our choices should be informed by our individual “constellation of virtues,” allowing for a far richer understanding of the decisions we make and helping us to live more integrated and purposeful lives.
Critics Review
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“A well-argued and often enlightening exploration of how decisions are and should be made.”
Publishers Weekly
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“Masterful! An utterly convincing (and beautifully crafted) argument that we need to rethink rationality.”
Angela Duckworth, author of Grit
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“Schwartz and Schuldenfrei dismantle the illusion that decisions can be engineered through calculation alone—and make a powerful case for the messy, moral, and meaning-laden nature of real choice.”
Daniel H. Pink, #1 New York Times bestselling author
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“Schwartz and Schuldenfrei show that using good judgment, understanding others’ intentions, and framing our alternatives to align with what we value is the road to better decisions and to a good life.”
Martin Seligman, author of Flourish
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“We are not only utility maximizers, they point out; we seek virtues and meaning that cannot be reduced to quantitative metrics. This book points the way to a less formalistic social science and a less transactional way of living our lives.”
Michael J. Sandel, author of The Tyranny of Merit
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Details
- Author
- Richard Schuldenfrei
- Narrator
- Grover Gardner
- Duration
- 9 hours 46 minutes
- Release Date
- 22 November 2025
- ISBN
- 9798228588400
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Blackstone Publishing
- Genre
- Business and Management, Advice on careers and achieving success
Synopsis
A leading psychologist and philosopher challenge the shortcomings of rational choice theory—and propose a new framework for understanding decision-making.For many decision scientists, their starting point—drawn from economics—is a quantitative formula called rational choice theory, allowing people to calculate and choose the best options. The problem is that this framework assumes an overly simplistic picture of the world where different types of values can be quantified and compared, leading to the one “most rational” choice. Behavioral economics acknowledges that irrationality is common but still accepts the underlying belief from economics of what a rational decision should look like.In this audiobook, the authors offer a different way to think about the choices we make every day. Drawing from economics, psychology, and philosophy—and both inspired by and challenging Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow—they show how the focus on rationality, narrowly understood, fails to fully describe how we think about our decisions, much less help us make better ones. Notably, it overlooks the positive contribution that framing—how we determine what aspects are most important to us—contributes to good decisions.Schwartz and Schuldenfrei argue that our choices should be informed by our individual “constellation of virtues,” allowing for a far richer understanding of the decisions we make and helping us to live more integrated and purposeful lives.
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