Synopsis #2

          In my selected book, "How We Decide" much was talked about within the first few sections. The first chapter brings up the game of football, the duty of the quarterback and how important his actions are on the field. First Lehrer give statistics of  the famous New England Patriots second-string quarterback Tom Brady. Lehrer brings up the fact that Brady was an underdog. No one really wanted him and in fact he was the 199th pick in the 2000th draft. You could say he wasn't built for the NFL and definitely wasn't expected to go as far as he did. Quarterbacks are relied on to make the most important decisions on the field, and the toughest thing about it is that they have to make dozens at once. Football players are required to take a test and while some of the best players scored lower than average and vise-versa.

          Lehrer does an amazing job on creating a picture in your mind. He explains the process from the snap of the ball. Where does he throw it? While having people running to attack him he only has seconds to complete an important task. He has to make a decision and he has to make it quick. He has to predict what is going to happen next, where the defense is going to run to, where your own players are going and most importantly he has to time it right. Brady says that he can barely even recognize when he makes those decisions on the field, its like his brain is doing it for him. 

          Off the topic of sports Lehrer gives a more relatable scenario. He talks about mental illnesses and the effects that it not only has on the victim but the surrounding peers. For example a man had a tumor near his brain removed and everything changed from that day on. The man had changed completely, had no sense of decision making or emotional attachment. He spent hours picking a parking spot and wasted so much time on unimportant decisions. He wasn’t sure what he was doing was right or wrong. From this point on Lehrer describes the scientific parts of the brain. He does a great job informing the reader about front parts of the brain such as the front orbital cortex and its functions. He brings up juices or chemicals in the brain like dopamine and how it’s used in real life scenarios that we can relate to.

How I Decided #1

Jonah Lehrer author of many books mostly focuses on topics of psychology, which is something that interests me. His famous book, How We Decide led Lehrer to write small blurbs in The New Yorker and other famous magazines.

After given the long list of books to choose from for this assignment I thought to myself, how am I going to pick one book? How am I going to decide? Ironically I found this one.

Last semester I took up and independent study about why we do the things that we do and decision making and this book in particular peaked my interest. 

The blurb on the inside cover of the book explains a little about what the book is going to teach me. A lot of facts and relatable situations are going to be talked about. It's always good to understand things to the fullest, therefore if I learn a little more about decision making I could make better decisions and or understand other peoples decisions as well.