Six Books for Improving Your Decision Making

Making good decisions is a critical skill in life and work. Even so, many times we turn a blind eye to what we know about cognitive biases, the perils of rationalization, and the experience of other people wiser than us and rely on our intuition to decide.

We can improve our decision-making by reflecting on our past decisions. But self-reflection by itself won't lead to significant improvements. Charlie Munger, Warren Buffet's partner and life-long friend believed in learning from others:

I believe in the discipline of mastering the best that other people have ever figured out. I don't believe in just sitting down and trying to dream it all up yourself. Nobody's that smart.

One great way to learn from others is by reading. Through the years, I've come by many great books that helped me improve my thinking and make better decisions. Six books stand out:

1. Clear Thinking by Shane Parrish. Parrish is the founder of Farnam Street Blog. He has spent years collecting Munger’s wisdom and mental models and learning from other great thinkers. Clear Thinking is not a theoretical book about decision-making. Parrish gives a solid framework on how to make better decisions without assuming prior knowledge. It will help you understand what the critical issues to making good decisions are, to know your “defaults” and weaknesses, and build strength—because clear thinking requires more than willpower.
2. Seeking Wisdom: From Darwin to Munger by Peter Bevelin. Once in a while you find an author and you realize that you should try to read everything he or she has written. Peter Bevelin is one of those intellectual giants. He's also responsible for several books about Munger, like Poor Charlie's Almanack.
3. Maxims for Thinking Analytically by Dan Levy. This book summarizes the teachings of legendary Harvard professor Richard Zeckhauser about understanding the world around you and making smarter decisions.
4. How to Think by Alan Jacobs. Jacobs emphasizes the importance of cultivating intellectual humility and being open to changing one's mind in the face of new evidence. Also, Jacobs encourages us to engage with ideas and viewpoints different than our own as a key factor for better thinking.
5. Thinking in Bets, by Annie Duke, former World-renowned professional poker player and decision-making consultant. The promise of this book is to help you see decisions as bets by using probabilistic thinking rather viewing things as true/false or judging the quality of decisions just by the outcome.
6. Think Again by Adam Grant. A book about the importance of being able to rethink and unlearn.

Should you read all those books? Not necessarily. But I recommend that you read at least some of them. And if I had to recommend just one book, I would say you should start by reading Clear Thinking by Shane Parrish.

Ignore at your own peril.