In
this exercise, I'd like you to select a book from the second half of the
Official ENT 3003 Reading List and report on it. This part of the list focuses
on books that cover, generally, entrepreneurship, business, and learning. I'd
like you to address the following in your post:
1)
I decided to read How to Fail At Almost Everything and Still Win Big by
Adams Scott. I would have to say that that in reading this book I
realized there to be many themes throughout. I will later delve into what
I thought my biggest surprise/’aha’ moment later which, in my opinion will
actually describe the overall theme of the book. Themes throughout the book
include the interaction of system 1 and system 2 of the mind and how they
interact. System 1 work autonomously while system 2 requires effortful
thinking. This theme early on sets the base for the book and helps the
reader understand the operable mindset, per say, of how we think as
individuals. This sets up the second theme with our thinking and the role
that heuristics play in all of our thinking patterns. Throughout the
researchers have a focus towards why individuals have difficulty thinking and
making judgments statistically. The next part dives into examining how
overconfident we are as individuals. This in turn plays a role
specifically into our ability to think statistically, especially when it comes to
chance. The mind has the general ability to accidentally underestimate
the power of chance and over compensate correlation between two events and how
this plays into our ability in thinking and making judgments. This
leads into the second to last theme surrounding choices with a focus on
economics. The theme here surrounds how, as previously mentioned, the
workings of system 1 and 2 occur, and work together but influence all the
choices we make. It focuses as well on our framing bias and that when some
risk is presented with a negative outcome versus a positive one we tend to take
the risk more often when it is presented with a negative outcome as if we have
something to prove. Lastly, the book comes together examining the two
selves we have – the experiencing self and the remembering self. Overall,
it examines the conflict between the two and our general difficulty in pursuing
happiness as individuals while still satisfying our ‘two’ selves that form our
identity. What memories do we make, how do we make them, and how do we
let our experiences as we move through life affect and exist alongside our
remembering self.
2)
This book I think really enhanced what I have learned so far in ENT 3003.
First off, it helps explain many of the decisions and the ways in which I have
responded to assignments in the class. Overall, it definitely will help
me look openly towards assignments to counter the framework I generally analyze
assignments with, to then be able to attack/think about the rest of the assignments
from an additional, different point of view. This book connects with each
individual assignment in some way, shape, or form. Every assignment
involves some sort of analytical thinking. Thinking Fast and Slow analyzes
the mind and how we think throughout, therefore this new found knowledge can be
used in every assignment.
3)
If I were to design an assignment for this class specifically around this book
I would make everyone answer five basic questions that coincide with the five
parts of the book: Two Systems, Heuristics and Biases, Overconfidence, Choices,
and the Two Selves. I would have everyone write down their knowledge or
what comes to mind based on all these titles for each part of the book. I
would then have them write about how they arrived at their answers or what
memories or experiences shaped their answers surrounding the title of each
part. Then I would have them analyze themselves in terms of the titles of each
part. After I would have them read each part, and after each part I would
want them to reflect on the same question that was originally asked and reflect
on their original answer. After the book is finished and I would
incorporate a cumulative response in a general reflection on the work as a
whole and how it has affected, personally, that individual. This is the
assignment I would create around this book.
4)
Lastly the biggest ‘aha’ moment of this book was realizing that, this is one of
the few books that can be summarized by the title, Thinking Fast and Slow.
This may seem like an impossible, loaded statement, but if I had to describe
this book in four words this would be the only way possible to describe and
summarize all five parts of this book. The reason it is my biggest ‘aha’
moment was because it simplified and helped my understanding of the book.
For me when I first started reading this book, it required a lot of
concentration and effort by me. I had to make sure it was absolutely
quiet with no distractions around me because the material was so thick.
But once I realized the title summarizes the book and brings all the parts
together I saw how everything was connected. I saw how each part built
off the previous one and that cumulatively the book comes together and helped
me with the way I analyze everything now.
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