Review: ‘Nudge’ by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein

Nudge: Improving decisions about health, wealth and happiness
R Thaler, C Sunstein. Yale University Press
ISBN 978-0-300-12223-7

I’m going to be honest. It doesn’t come easily (I’m involved in politics, afterall), but i’m going to come out straight with it:
I really wanted to like this book.

I really wanted to write a clear, fluid review detailing the way in which the human mind is enlightened by the act of reading this title.

But it’s not going to be that. This review is more of a confused mess, as I question whether my perception of the books faults are based on objective fact, or my subconscious desire to defend my mental status quo (which is covered extensively in the early chapters). I know my thinking has been played with, but I’m not sure how or where.

This book has changed the way I think about the world, myself, my species.

Nudge theory details the way that we can seek to improve people’s decision making by thinking through and carefully changing society’s ‘defaults’. The ‘nudge’ is the act of changing behaviour (and here comes the most important point) without restricting freedom of choice.

As a (small l)liberal, this message really resounds with me.

It’s almost as if the authors wanted to ‘nudge’ humanity in a chosen direction by writing it. By opening everyone’s mind to the way that we choose and make decisions, they ‘nudge’ the species towards a higher understanding of the human condition – away from war, enforcement and authoritarianism – and toward a more liberal, more relaxed culture.
So writing a book called ‘nudge’ about ‘nudging’ ‘nudges’ humanity toward understanding ‘nudging’ and…. wait. My mind is screwed.
And* that’s the sign of a good piece of (in this case, very practical) philosophy.

But philosophy is all one can expect from this book.
Detailed concepts are mulled over for some time, and as the writers try to gently introduce concepts, I find myself getting frustrated at the length of time it takes to read. Every behaviour must be introduced, then explained with detailed references, and only then can one actually look at how to influence humanity based on the understanding of this behaviour begin.
Above I introduced the concept of ‘Nudging’ in 41 words. It takes the book 14 pages.

Nudge is not a book that you can dip into. You can’t read it for 10 minutes on the tube, or before bed.
It is a work that requires your full attention, for some considerable time. If you are hoping to get paid for anything at any point, ‘Nudge’ is not your friend.

It’s a cruel irony that those that need to read texts like this the most have the least available time to read them.

I guess what I’m saying is I’d like to see the book condensed into a pamplet form – where the reader still has the ability to dip into the book for more information where necessary. It would make a lot of sense to make a work such as this as assessable as possible, because right now, it’s really not.
It’s a social science text with caveats – Too intellectual for a speed read, yet aimed too much at novices to throw out the more basic explanations and go straight for the throat.

In summary?
It’s aimed at the wrong people, and suffers for it. Nudge changed my thinking and raises points that anyone in a decision making capacity should take into account – without doubt, but it’s inaccessibility makes me not want to re-read it to see what i’ve missed on a quick read through.
If you’ve got the time to read this outstanding piece of liberal philosophy, you can pick up a copy from Amazon.co.uk for 7 quid from the link below.
I just really think it could do with an editor and a stanley knife.

*yes, I did just start a sentence with a conjunction. And what of it?