Wild Problems, Russ Roberts
Wild Problems, Russ Roberts
List: $15.00 | Sale: $10.50
Club: $7.50

Wild Problems
A Guide to the Decisions That Define Us

Author: Russ Roberts

Narrator: Mark Deakins

Unabridged: 3 hr 57 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Published: 08/09/2022


Synopsis

From the host of EconTalk, a guide to decision-making when you can't crunch the numbers

Algorithms and apps analyze data and tell you how to beat the traffic, what books to buy, what music to listen to, and even who to date—often with great results. But what do you do when you face the big decisions of life—the "wild problems" of who to marry, whether to have children, where to move, how to forge a life well-lived—that can’t be solved by measurement or calculation?

In Wild Problems, beloved host of EconTalk Russ Roberts offers puzzled rationalists a way to address these wild problems. He suggests spending less time and energy on the path that promises the most happiness, and more time on figuring out who you actually want to be. He draws on the experience of great artists, writers, and scientists of the past who found creative ways to navigate life’s biggest questions. And he lays out strategies for reducing the fear and the loss of control that inevitably come when a wild problem requires a leap in the dark.

Ultimately, Roberts asks us to see ourselves and our lives less as a problem to be solved than a mystery to be experienced. There's no right decision waiting to be uncovered by an app or rational analysis. Reality is harder than that and, perhaps, a little more interesting. 

About The Author

Russ Roberts is the president of Shalem College in Jerusalem and the John and Jean De Nault Research Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. He hosts the award-winning weekly podcast EconTalk, in which he distills economic concepts with guests such as Michael Lewis, Jill Lepore, Angela Duckworth, Christopher Hitchens, and Nassim Nicholas Taleb. He is the author of five books, including Gambling with Other People’s Money and How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life, and cocreator of the Keynes-Hayek rap videos, which have been viewed more than 12 million times on YouTube. He received his PhD from the University of Chicago.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Max on September 05, 2022

A necessary slap in the face for my logical mind......more

Goodreads review by Adam on October 03, 2022

First half was incredible, some of the best stuff I’ve read this year (and it’s been a good year of reading already). Second half dragged a little, but great reframing of certain types of problems and decision making.......more

Goodreads review by Pete on August 22, 2022

Wild Problems : A Guide to the Decisions that Define Us (2022) by Russ Roberts ruminates on how to make the big decisions in life that we all face. Roberts is the host of the excellent Econtalk podcast and is an academic economist who was educated at The University of Chicago. I’ve been listening to......more

Goodreads review by John on September 28, 2022

I was coming here to write a screed about how this book is written for a caricature of a rationalist (economist?) who earnestly believes the most vapid and textureless version of human decision making is literally true. About how that person doesn’t really exist and that his arguments fall flat for......more

Goodreads review by Scott on August 30, 2022

Read this in one sitting on a train. I knew most of the material already from the podcast but wanted to explore the book to get a bit more detail. Unfortunately, it didn't add much from what's already been said. I'd highly recommend the book for those that don't listen to EconTalk. My favourite line......more


Quotes

“This excellent book won’t make your decisions for you. Instead, it will do something more powerful: help you think about your most important decisions in a completely new light.”
—EMILY OSTER, author of Expecting Better
 
Wild Problems is a powerful guide to a more meaningful life.”
—DAVID EPSTEIN, author of Range
 
“I’ve learned more about economics and economic reasoning from Russ Roberts than from all other sources combined. I am delighted to find out in this book that Roberts is also a source about the limits of economic reasoning when it comes to existential decisions.”
—NASSIM NICHOLAS TALEB, author of The Black Swan
 
“An interesting and useful book. The ‘wild problems’ it explains how to solve include the biggest ones you’ll face in your life.”
—PAUL GRAHAM, founder of Y Combinator
 
“A beautiful meditation on big life choices, gently reminding us of the limits of narrow cost-benefit reasoning and presenting an alternative approach to human flourishing.”
—ANGELA DUCKWORTH, author of Grit
 
“Roberts’s thought-provoking take on the limits of data and the overquantification of contemporary life provides a bold and original perspective on how humans can make better decisions. Daniel Kahneman’s fans will find much to ponder.”
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