Book Review: The Art of Thinking Clearly

Swiss author Rolf Dobelli pens down amazing ideas and informs us through his book. He divided the book into 99 chapters which showed different cognitive errors we generally do.

The author appears deeply inspired by Nassim Taleb (The Black Swan) and Daniel Kahneman (Thinking Fast and Slow). The book is a reflection of his inspiration. A peculiar yet interesting feature of the book is that every chapter distinguishes itself from another.

The book wants us to shift our attention. It gives a novel perspective to life and allows us to think beyond our perceptions. It hits hard on our subconscious and makes us aware of our mistakes.  This could be witnessed in some of his amazing lines:

• Simplicity is the zenith of a long arduous journey, not the starting point.
• Absence is much to detect that the presence.
• You control less than you think.

Many mentioned incidences give us an insightful picture that how we get into simple Cognitive Errors in our personal and professional life. This book also talks about different illusions we have and raises a question like ‘Does Harvard makes you smarter?’ and ‘Why New Year resolution does not work?’ This is something we never give a thought.

We all are human, and always make mistakes but why we never try to make ourselves more rational. In a nutshell, the author asks the readers to make decisions rationally. Rational thinking is the key to successful thinking. This book acts as a reminder in our life every time we do something irrational!