The title of this book makes it sound like a snore. A quick read of the Amazon.com summary will indicate you will be bored to death. If you look at the photo of the author (who looks like he’s 14), you will be convinced that it can’t be good. (“Someone that young can’t be a good writer. It’s probably teenage angst poetry.”) Be prepared to be surprised. No teenage angst poetry and very fun to read. As I recollect all the books I’ve read in the past three months, it seems to me that more than half include a plane crash. This one is no different. In fact, the book starts off with a plane crash, follows with nearly blowing a plane out of the sky with a missile, and a couple more plane crashes. You’d think by this time I’d be tired of reading about plane crashes (in fact, I am). Mercifully, the book quickly turns course and starts with how an NFL quarterback finds the most open receiver. Ok, then he starts on neurobiology. I like neurobiology. Maybe that says something about me. For everyone else, he gets back to gambling, credit card debt, choosing jelly, buying cars, opera singers who forget how to sing, deciding about presidential candidates, 4-year-olds who resist eating marshmallows (one of my favorite psychology experiments), professional poker players, and why we are fundamentally irrational in our decision-making. Check it out.
