Everything Is Obvious: Why Common Sense Is Nonsense

Watts, Duncan J.

ISBN 10: 1848872143 / ISBN 13: 9781848872141

Verlag: Atlantic Books, 2011

Beschreibung

This is an ex-library book and may have the usual library/used-book markings inside.This book has hardback covers. In good all round condition. Dust jacket in good condition. Please note the Image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item,750grams, ISBN:9781848872141. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 9975583

Bibliografische Details

Titel: Everything Is Obvious: Why Common Sense Is ...

Verlag: Atlantic Books

Erscheinungsdatum: 2011

Einband: Hardcover

Zustand: Good

Zustand des Schutzumschlags: Schutzumschlag

Über diesen Titel

Inhaltsangabe:

Why is the Mona Lisa the most famous painting in the world? Why did Facebook succeed when other social networking sites failed? Did the surge in Iraq really lead to less violence? And does higher pay incentivize people to work harder?

If you think the answers to these questions are a matter of common sense, think again. As sociologist and network science pioneer Duncan Watts explains in this provocative book, the explanations that we give for the outcomes that we observe in life-explanations that seem obvious once we know the answer-are less useful than they seem. Watts shows how commonsense reasoning and history conspire to mislead us into thinking that we understand more about the world of human behavior than we do; and in turn, why attempts to predict, manage, or manipulate social and economic systems so often go awry.

Only by understanding how and when common sense fails can we improve how we plan for the future, as well as understand the present-an argument that has important implications in politics, business, marketing, and even everyday life.

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor:

Duncan Watts is a principal research scientist at Yahoo! Research, and a former professor of sociology at Columbia University. His research on social networks and collective dynamics has appeared in a wide range of academic journals, including Nature, Science, and the American Journal of Sociology. He is also the author of two previous books, Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age; and Small Worlds: The Dynamics of Networks between Order and Randomness. He lives in New York.