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Noise cover art

Noise

By: Daniel Kahneman,Olivier Sibony,Cass R. Sunstein
Narrated by: Todd Ross,Olivier Sibony,Daniel Kahneman
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Summary

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

From the world-leaders in strategic thinking and the multi-million copy bestselling authors of Thinking Fast and Slow and Nudge, the next big book to change the way you think.  

We like to think we make decisions based on good reasoning–and that our doctors, judges, politicians, economic forecasters and employers do too. In this groundbreaking book, three world-leading behavioural scientists come together to assess the last great fault in our collective decision-making: noise.

We all make bad judgements more than we think. Noise shows us what we can do to make better ones.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio. 

©2021 Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony, Cass R. Sunstein (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

"Noise may be the most important book I've read in more than a decade. A genuinely new idea so exceedingly important you will immediately put it into practice. A masterpiece." (Angela Duckworth, author of Grit)

"An absolutely brilliant investigation of a massive societal problem that has been hiding in plain sight." (Steven Levitt, co-author of Freakonomics)

"A monumental, gripping book.... Outstanding." (Sunday Times)

What listeners say about Noise

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Where there is judgment there is noise

When I saw that the authors of Thinking, Fast and Slow (Daniel Kahneman) and Nudge (Cass R Sustein) had collaborated to write this book, my System 1 thinking kicked in and I immediately hit the "buy" button. I do like this type of "clever thinking" book and was intrigued to discover what "noise" was all about.

The authors collectively consider the impact of "noise" on the way people apply judgment and also discuss the difference between noise and bias. This may include any decision we make and is applicable to investment decisions, recruitment, sentencing for criminal justice and calculations for insurance risks. Humans are fallible and it is found that a simple way to reduce noise is to consider the "wisdom of the crowd" by simple aggregation and averaging of opinions. This is not so easy, of course, with one off events and, as we know, history only runs once and it is impossible to quantify the impact of noise on unique political decisions.

There is some overlap in this book with previous works by the authors such as Kahnman's System 1 / System 2 thinking and the concept of Superforecasting as outlined in Philip Tetlock and Dan Gardner book from 2016 is also re-visited here. There is also a lot of content devoted to statistical analysis which some will love but others (myself included) will find heavy going in places.

I may be biased (see what I did there?) here, but I would give this book 4 stars. It has been proven that the first person in a group who speaks will guide the group in its collective decision, so maybe this first review will set a trend.

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27 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Powerful book

A few people have left negative reviews, but I feel they have not read or engaged with the book. A powerful case is made by Kahneman et al. that noise is an important problem in many decision contexts, and concerning how to interpret and deal with that noise. Laypeople, and even non-statististicians who use statistics, could learn a lot from the book -- although there are indeed some controversial claims that could have used another revision. Nonetheless this is an important book and I think it will have a long life.

The audiobook is OK, but the narrator runs through material breathlessly and often with evident misunderstanding. He reads chapter and section headings as if they are simply part of the ongoing text and that is a most alarming habit. The narrator of Thinking Fast and Slow was so good -- what happened to him?

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16 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Hard going

This kind of book is not suited to audible. Although you can download an accompanying PDF I think a text copy of the book is important to digest the material properly.
It takes me back to my school days, eyes glazing over as the narrator reads out studies.

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7 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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Not very interesting

Good subject matter but the result is repetitive and also you need a download that I have yet to find!!

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3 people found this helpful

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  • MJ
  • 09-01-22

The irony of noise!

This book, is really about variation when people make judgements, but they call it noise: not systemic or individual bias, but occasion and individual noise blah blah. The whole pitch is "you should reduce noise" in a noisy book, as your first task is to get used to the unholy offspring of Sheldon and Kermit squeaking the words out. Then once you can concentrate on the content, it first seems like an advert for buying a Noise Audit with some pretty poor marketing style imagineering. Then they do it again and again in a Gladwellian attempt to prove the same point slightly differently, before just repeating themselves again, until the whole things descends into an exercise in the wisdom of (informed) crowds. Then right at the end they explain that noise can be good and the implications of trying to reduce it, can make the whole thing pointless. Drum roll and cymbal crash to the irony. I'm a massive fan of Dan and Cass, but this book feels like it was written during several wine infused dinner parties.... what were they thinking?

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Another well rounded, holistic discussion of the attributes and impacts of human judgement

Another great book by kahneman et al deep diving into how we can make better decisions. An unmissable book.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • LB
  • 21-01-24

interesting concept, could be shorter

I loved Thinking fast and slow and would count it as one of my top ten most influential books so was really excited to listen to Noise. As some of the other reviewers have said, this is a tough listen and I really had to force myself to finish it.
The start of the book made me (as someone else said) wonder if I was being sold a 'noise audit'.
The book was very academic and could be simplified and shortened for more impact. the narrator isn't brilliant so that doesn't help. All in all an interesting subject, but save your time and listen to the blinkest overview rather than the full book.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Extremely informative

Noise is present everywhere, it is important to acknowledge it to be able to make better decision and understand our surroundings.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

An excellent learning experience

For me, Noise is best as an audiobook. There are sections which are riveting and others which are interesting but a little heavy to read in a book.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Maybe Audio is not the right format

I get the important point that this book is making and some of the case studies are interesting but I struggled to find the book engaging.

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