Arnold
Kling links
to a post by Cass Sunstein titled Five
Books to Change Liberals' Minds. Sunstein, a legal scholar and
professor at Harvard Law School is also known for his book
(co-authored with Richard Thaler), Nudge: Improving Decisions about
Health, Wealth, and Happiness. Nudge discusses how public and private
organizations can help people make better choices in their daily
lives. The authors argue that “People often make poor choices –
and look back at them with bafflement! We do this because as human
beings, we all are susceptible to a wide array of routine biases that
can lead to an equally wide array of embarrassing blunders in
education, personal finance, health care, mortgages and credit cards,
happiness, and even the planet itself.”
While
I agree with Sunstein that achieving objectivity is much, much harder
than most people realize, I have philosophical issues with the
government trying to steer me into making choices that officials deem
are better for me. I'd rather that private institutions apply these
ideas for a number of reasons that I won't go into here.
Having
said that, I like Sunstein's intro to his post.
It
can be easy and tempting, especially during a presidential campaign,
to listen only to opinions that mirror and fortify one's own. That’s
not ideal, because it eliminates learning and makes it impossible for
people to understand what they dismiss as “the other side.”
I see
examples of this insular thinking all to often. We all gravitate to
news sources that reflect our conclusions. Liberals prefer PBS or
MSNBC while conservatives glom onto Fox or the Drudge Report.
Personally, I occasionally visit “enemy territory” not just to
see if there is a valid alternate view or explanation but also to
understand how the opposing side thinks so that maybe I can
communicate my ideas better or (horrors) maybe modify my position!
The
books he recommends are:
“Seeing
Like A State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Conditions
Have Failed,” by James Scott
“A
Matter of Interpretation,” by Antonin Scalia
“Side
Effects and Complications: The Economic Consequences of Health-Care
Reform,” by Casey Mulligan
“The
Righteous Mind,” by Jonathan Haidt
“Order
Without Law: How Neighbors Settle Disputes,” by Robert Ellickson
Of
these five I've read one and a half. Read all of The Righteous Mind
and started Side Effects and Complications but haven't finished it
yet. Other books have barged into my queue! Haidt's book instantly
lodged itself onto my short list of favorites. Highly recommended!
Kling
in turn offers a list
of books.
On
education: Goldin and Katz, “The Race Between Education and
Technology” and Elizabeth Green, “Building a Better Teacher.”
Daniel
Kahneman’s “Thinking Fast and Slow”. [I've read most of it and
agree with Kling's recommendation. It has a lot of information on the
subconscious influences on our objectivity and decision making.]
Joseph
Henrich’s “The Secret of Our Success” - “a good reminder that
there are other social norms in the background that are important.
Another book on the importance of culture is Peter Turchin’s 'War,
Peace, and War.'”
On
economics: L. Randall Wray’s “Why Minsky Matters” and George
Akerlof and Robert Shiller, “Animal Spirits”. Scott Sumner’s
history of the Great Depression, “The Midas Paradox” [Another one
on the towering pile of books to be read.]
On
family life: “Our Kids,” Robert Putnam who “coined the phrase
'bifurcated family patterns.' Isabel Sawhill’s “Generation
Unbound”
