Reviews for Science and the Renewal of Belief

The average rating for Science and the Renewal of Belief based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-02-20 00:00:00 Caroline Gunther Have you ever read a research paper in which the researcher already has a preordained conclusion and makes all supporting information fit that conclusion no matter how tenuous the actual connection? That is exactly what this book felt like. I generally enjoy random collections of unusual research studies (Freakonomics, Blink, Mindless Eating) but this one just didn't hold together for me. The author is trying to pull together research to support the idea that this website can help people change their habits through the use of incentive contracts. The research that supposedly supports his work is very random and tenuously connected at best. The writing is not at all witty or even very interesting and I just couldn't follow his connections at times. It isn't completely awful, but it isn't good enough to finish.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-03-23 00:00:00 Daniel Cary Interesting, and I'll keep stickK.com in mind if I ever find there is a commitment I REALLY want to keep but don't have the intrinsic motivation to fulfill. One would hope that if something truly was REALLY important to me I'd be able to achieve it without the sticks offered on stickK, but we are all human and at times weak, perhaps such a formal commitment would prevent the 'slippery slope' action that many of my less formal commitments fall prey to. I guess the above indicates that I feel this book is a bit of a sales-pitch, which is distasteful. Another distasteful thing is that there's lots of title-dropping in this book, Harvard professor this, Yale professor that. Sheesh, Ian, I got it, you're a professor at Yale Law and are in that Ivy circle. That said, this was an interesting read, and I learned several nuggets of information, which I'll list here, mostly to jog my memory later: A) Many of us find it hard to wait for a better option when we could have an adequate option now; this is pretty much at the route of most weak-will mistakes. B) You can disable choice by making the option of not following the commitment too bad to accept (or conversely reward for following it too good to refuse). C) By putting small things at stake you can only guide daily choice. D) You can increase your future self's intrinsic motivation by proving (memorably) what you're willing to sacrifice today in order to achieve something. E) Giving yourself a virtual head-start on your goal can make it seem more achievable. F) It is likely that on any given day we have a limited supply of self-control; to meet our commitments and live better lives we can either increase our supply or decrease the demands placed on it (which includes making some things automatic). G) Remember that no one is perfect, focus on what matters most.