Eyes Wide Open: How to Make Smart Decisions in a Confusing World

Eyes Wide Open: How to Make Smart Decisions in a Confusing World is Noreena Hertz’s practical, cutting-edge guide to help you cut through the data deluge and make smarter and better choices, based on her highly popular TED talk.

In this eye-opening handbook, the internationally noted speaker, economics expert, and bestselling author of IOU: The Debt Threat and Silent Takeover reveals the extent to which the biggest decisions in our lives are often made on the basis of flawed information, weak assumptions, corrupted data, insufficient scrutiny of others, and a lack of self-knowledge.

To avert such disasters, Hertz persuasively argues, we need to become empowered decision-makers, capable of making high-stakes choices and holding accountable those who advise us.

In Eyes Wide Open, she weaves together scientific research with real-world examples from Hollywood to Harry Potter, NASA to World War Two spies, to construct a path to more astute and empowered decision-making in ten clear steps. With a razor-sharp intellect and an instinct for popular storytelling, she offers counter-intuitive, actionable guidance for making better choices―whether you are a business-person, a professional, a patient, or a parent.

This essential book provides a ten-step framework for better choices:

• A Ten-Step Toolkit: A clear, actionable framework to help you navigate complex choices and cut through the noise of information overload.
• How to Challenge Experts: Learn to question flawed assumptions, scrutinize corrupted data, and hold the authorities who advise you accountable.
• Evidence-Based Strategies: Weaves together the latest scientific research with fascinating real-world examples from NASA to World War Two spies.
• Master Your Mind: Understand the hidden mental shortcuts and biases that shape your choices and develop the self-knowledge to overcome them.

Noreena Hertz is a bestselling author, academic, and thinker. She has provided keynote addresses at TED and the World Economic Forum, sits on the board of Warner Music Group, and advises a range of major corporations. She is an honorary professor at the Centre for the Study of Decision-Making Uncertainty at University College London.