The Upside of Irrationality has been released today in paperback! To celebrate this occasion, I will be releasing videos over the next few months — each discussing one of the chapters.

Here is a look into the introduction:

p.s I just learned that the world is going to end on May 21, so if you want to get the book, do it quickly (and pay with a credit card).

irrationally yours

Dan

How are bonuses influencing performance?

Often people expect that higher bonuses will yield higher level of ability and performance — but do they?

Here is a talk I gave on this topic (see also Chapter 1 in “The Upside of Irrationality”)

From the NYT Sunday Book Review:

STUFF YOUR BRAIN SAYS: “The Upside of Irrationality,” Dan Ariely’s follow-up to his 2008 best seller “Predictably Irrational,” hits the hardcover list at No. 12 this week. Ariely, a professor at Duke, is a leading researcher in behavioral economics. One of the field’s concerns is the way we tend to misjudge future pleasure — for example, by imagining that a new Ferrari will make us feel much happier than it actually does. But making The New York Times best-seller list, it turns out, really does feel good. “When my first book reached the list, I called my wife to tell her and I was just not able to talk from excitement,” Ariely said by telephone. “This was very interesting to me because I was very happy to hear the news, but somehow sharing it with someone I love intensified it to an extent that was just too much for me, and I was just able to say a word here and there and almost cry in between.” The differences in our experience of emotions when we are alone versus with others, he added, might be a fruitful avenue for future research.

So — how did I feel this time?  About the same as the first time….

Irrationally yours

Dan

The New York Times Sunday Book Review, just published a review of the Upside of Irrationality.

In general I think that the review is very good, but there is one point that made me wonder (and of course I focused on the one point that was less positive in the review).

One of the main differences between “The Upside” and PI is that this time around I wrote in a much more personal way about some of my experiences and how they got me thinking differently about different aspects of life (dating, adaptation, pain etc). It was very hard to write this way, and while writing I kept on wondering if this is a good approach to write or not.  The reviewer from the NYT reaction was that I was overly personal in my descriptions, and maybe she was correct…

Either way it would be nice to find out the reaction to this approach — is writing in a more personal way, useful or distracting?  I would love to get any feedback on this.

Thanks

Irrationally yours

Dan

Here is the cover of my new book. Look for it June 1, 2010!

I recently started working on my next book.

It is generally going to be more stories about my research and the plan is to have 3 parts

Part 1: Personal life, happiness, adaptation, dating, and online dating
Part 2: business life: motivation at work, the role of bonuses, mistrust, and revenge
Part 3: cheating: the effects of observing other people cheat, group based cheating, the effect of one dishonest act on others etc.

The current title is:

Living irrationally: the way we work, date and cheat.

If you have any other suggestions for a title, please email me at dan at predictablyirrational dot com

Many thanks

Dan