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Seth Stephens-Davidowitz
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Don't Trust Your Gut: Using Data to Get What You Really Want in LIfe Kindle Edition

by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.3 out of 5 stars 379
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"Seth Stephens-Davidowitz is more than a data scientist. He is a prophet for how to use the data revolution to reimagine your life. Don’t Trust Your Gut is a tour de force—an intoxicating blend of analysis, humor, and humanity.” — Daniel H. Pink, #1 New York Times bestselling author of When, Drive, and To Sell Is Human

Big decisions are hard. We consult friends and family, make sense of confusing “expert” advice online, maybe we read a self-help book to guide us. In the end, we usually just do what feels right, pursuing high stakes self-improvement—such as who we marry, how to date, where to live, what makes us happy—based solely on what our gut instinct tells us. But what if our gut is wrong? Biased, unpredictable, and misinformed, our gut, it turns out, is not all that reliable. And data can prove this.

In Don’t Trust Your Gut, economist, former Google data scientist, and New York Times bestselling author Seth Stephens-Davidowitz reveals just how wrong we really are when it comes to improving our own lives. In the past decade, scholars have mined enormous datasets to find remarkable new approaches to life’s biggest self-help puzzles. Data from hundreds of thousands of dating profiles have revealed surprising successful strategies to get a date; data from hundreds of millions of tax records have uncovered the best places to raise children; data from millions of career trajectories have found previously unknown reasons why some rise to the top.

Telling fascinating, unexpected stories with these numbers and the latest big data research, Stephens-Davidowitz exposes that, while we often think we know how to better ourselves, the numbers disagree. Hard facts and figures consistently contradict our instincts and demonstrate self-help that actually works—whether it involves the best time in life to start a business or how happy it actually makes us to skip a friend’s birthday party for a night of Netflix on the couch. From the boring careers that produce the most wealth, to the old-school, data-backed relationship advice so well-worn it’s become a literal joke, he unearths the startling conclusions that the right data can teach us about who we are and what will make our lives better.

Lively, engrossing, and provocative, the end result opens up a new world of self-improvement made possible with massive troves of data. Packed with fresh, entertaining insights, Don’t Trust Your Gut redefines how to tackle our most consequential choices, one that hacks the market inefficiencies of life and leads us to make smarter decisions about how to improve our lives. Because in the end, the numbers don’t lie.

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  1. Print length
    316 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
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  4. Publisher
    Dey Street Books
  5. Publication date
    May 10, 2022
  6. File size
    12697 KB
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  1. When it comes to increasing sales, a salesperson’s limiting their excitement—having a poker face instead of a smile—proves about twice as valuable as free shipping.
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  2. In other words, a person who is happy outside their relationship is far more likely to be happy inside their relationship, as well.
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  3. Opposites attract, the data tells us, is a myth. Similarity attracts—and the effects are large.
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From the Publisher

Don't Trust Your Gut

Don't Trust Your Gut

Don't Trust Your Gut

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Stephens-Davidowitz maintains a breezy, conversational style that lends a lighthearted touch to all the wonkery. Whether confirming or debunking conventional wisdom, the smooth presentation and quantitative detail bring a welcome analytical rigor to the self-help genre." — Publishers Weekly

Seth Stephens-Davidowitz is more than a data scientist. He is a prophet for how to use the data revolution to reimagine your life. Don’t Trust Your Gut is a tour de force—an intoxicating blend of analysis, humor, and humanity. — Daniel H. Pink, #1 New York Times bestselling author of When, Drive, and To Sell Is Human

"This must-read book is packed with helpful discoveries you can use to improve your life, and each is grounded in data. It’s also a page-turner—Seth Stephens-Davidowitz is a smart, witty writer with an extraordinary ability to make charts and statistics engrossing." — Katherine Milkman, author of How to Change

"There are two ways to look at big data: as a threat to your intuition or as a resource to test your intuition. Seth Stephens-Davidowitz is an expert on data-driven thinking, and this engaging book is full of surprising, useful insights for using the information at your fingertips to make better decisions." — Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Again and host of the TED podcast WorkLife  

"How can you look your best? Who should you marry? What makes a good parent? Are you too old to start a business? How can you get rich? What would make you happy? Would you read a book that helps you answer even one of these questions? Seth Stephens-Davidowitz delivers: a cross between Freakonomics and How to Win Friends and Influence People, Don’t Trust Your Gut is your guide for reliable data-driven hacks to get an edge in life." — Ian Bremmer, president and founder of Eurasia Group

"Seth Stephens-Davidowitz’s book is a brilliant and clever look into the critical importance of making data-informed decisions for a data-first organization. His truly game-changing approach provided a pivotal moment for me as a leader and his insightful yet humorous writing style is sure to do the same for many others." — Mindy Grossman, CEO of Weight Watchers

I love the way Seth Stephens-Davidowitz explains how we can better live our lives by exploiting the small advantages in life. On the basketball court, I made a career out of finding these types of minor advantages, and I’ve found that most successful individuals in life value the accumulation of small advantages. In the end, they add up to significant life benefits. — Shane Battier, two-time NBA Champion basketball player for the Miami Heat

About the Author

Seth Stephens-Davidowitz is a contributing op-ed writer for the New York Times, a lecturer at The Wharton School, and a former Google data scientist. He received a BA from Stanford and a PhD from Harvard. His research has appeared in the Journal of Public Economics and other prestigious publications. He lives in New York City.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0983M7Z7H
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Dey Street Books (May 10, 2022)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 10, 2022
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 12697 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 316 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0062880926
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 out of 5 stars 379

About the author

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Seth Stephens-Davidowitz

Seth Stephens-Davidowitz

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Seth is a data scientist, economist, and author. He has worked as a data scientist at Google, a contributing op-ed writer for the New York Times, and a visiting lecturer at The Wharton School. He is the author of 3 books, including Everybody Lies, which was a New York Times bestseller and an Economist Book of the Year. He has a BA in philosophy from Stanford and a PhD in economics from Harvard. He lives in Brooklyn and is a passionate fan of the Mets, Knicks, Jets, and Leonard Cohen.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
379 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Makana Risser Chai
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent insights for life hacks
Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2022
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If you like data, snappy writing, humor, and life hacks, this is the book for you. The chapter on happiness is priceless. 3 million data points from 60,000 people show that of the top 10 activities that make you happy, 5 are outdoors, 3 others are away from home, and 1 (socializing) is often done away from home. The activities that give us the least pleasure involve sitting on the couch. I am now using this information to decide what to do every day and for special occasions. Highly, highly recommended.
19 people found this helpful
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Andrew Chappell
4.0 out of 5 stars DO Trust Your Gut and Buy This Book!
Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2022
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This is one of the most important books to read. Data analysis is pretty new, and it leads to some fascinating insights. The book is full of counterintuitive (and counter-counterintuitive) ideas. Ideas involing parenting, dating, happiness, etc.

Here's one of the most important points of the book: Media distorts our reality. Data are more clear than media narratives. For example, the media always celebrates young entrepreneurs, even though the data say successful entrepreneurs are much older.

I devoured this book in one day. Lots of intriguing, data-backed arguments. Seth incorporates a lot of humor in the book. It's extremely easy to read.
10 people found this helpful
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Anil Maheshwari
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating book
Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2022
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Nice and sober presentation of data. Not as sexy as the previous book, but very illumunating. He sums up nicely that to be happy spend more time in nature with people you love. Data does not predict relationship success. Super-Successful startups have no more luck than the merely successful ones. Keep moving, do the work, and take the time to enjoy what you have made.
4 people found this helpful
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EB
3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining read; interesting ideas; not great as a self help book
Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2022
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Chapters 2 to 6 are pretty good (parenting; sports; career; business), but the chapters on dating, relationships, personal style, and happiness are quite weak.

A lot of the actionable advice given in those chapters assume that you're only interested in optimizing for that one thing. The author doesn't take into account the implications beyond that one thing. This, to me, was a flaw throughout those chapters:

Chapter 1 - chapter on dating. advises not to focus on looks in a potential long-term partner, since that doesn't lead to happiness in a relationship. Assumes that the only factor is happiness, and not the genetic advantages of future children you'll have with her. Which is ironic, because later chapters in the book stress how important genetics and looks are for success.

The chapter on dating also suggests to wear an extreme look, to be successful on dating apps. Assumes that dating is the only thing you're interested in, ignores the negative effect that could have on other social interactions.

Chapter 7 - since wearing glasses leads to improvement in appearing competent, author concludes that he should wear glasses. Assumes that appearing competent is all that matters. Ignores, for example, overall attractiveness.

Also, the chapter takes as a given, without explanation, that politicians appearing competent in photos doesn't actually mean they're competent. It's likely that in fact that real information regarding competency can be gleaned from photos.

Chapter 8 - Chapter on activities that leads to happiness says that sex by far leads to the most happiness. So the author recommends doing more of that. He then tells some personal stories that anecdotally imply that woman want more sex than men, when studies show that the opposite is the case, on average. Baumeister famously says that men are doomed to a life of constant sexual frustration. (It is unclear if “self-love” is included in the very high ranking of "Intimacy/Making Love".)

He then gives the bizarre advice to prioritize being drunk before and after social events, as opposed to during, to optimize how much happier alcohol makes you. Assumes that drinking alcohol is simply for additional pleasure in the moment. Ignores the aspects of alcohol being a social lubricant and removing inhibitions, allowing one to take advantage to make social connections and create enjoyable memories (even though he discusses related ideas of Kahneman in that chapter).

An additional critique is that unfortunately, the ideas in the book often rely on a single study, not accounting for the importance of multiple studies, which the replication crisis in psychology has shown the importance of.

To summarize: Entertaining, breezy, read; with some interesting ideas; mostly fails as a self help book
59 people found this helpful
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Santa Cruz
5.0 out of 5 stars Finished the book
Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2022
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I was able to read till the end. It’s very rare I complete a book these days and this is one of the few books that fascinated me enough to finish it. I am also motivated enough to start exercising based on the data it will make me happy. Hopefully I will keep at it this time.
4 people found this helpful
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A M
4.0 out of 5 stars The central thesis: to be happy, make love, not data science
Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2022
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The book reviews many research projects in data science that were inspired by discoveries in psychology. Contrary to the book's main thesis, the contribution of using data science (on top of the discoveries in psychology) is quite disappointing.
2 people found this helpful
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Nick Maggiulli
5.0 out of 5 stars The best book I've read this year
Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2022
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If you want data-driven answers to some of life's biggest problems, then Don't Trust Your Gut is for you. Whether analyzing relationships, money, or happiness, Seth Stephens-Davidowitz doesn't pull any punches when he lays out his arguments on how to live a better life. If you enjoyed Everybody Lies, you will also enjoy this.
7 people found this helpful
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Newman L Dalton
5.0 out of 5 stars This book is straight forward
Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2022
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This book is straight forward without the bias and soapbox speeches that other life coaching books have. It gives you the facts and let’s you decided how you want to deal with them.
3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Jacques Ben Meir
5.0 out of 5 stars A funny and insightful book to understand what the hell we are doing with ou lives
Reviewed in Brazil on August 27, 2023
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Seth Stephens-Davidowitz seemed to be more happy doing this awesome book than “Everybody Lies”, his extraordinary best-seller, a few year ago. Thanks to Seth, we can now understand what a data-driven approach que bring to live better and being happy. Good insights, plenty of consistent data shine some ways to face the hard times and to be more positive. Thanks, Seth. Waiting for your next book!
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CMuntwiler
5.0 out of 5 stars Another highlight
Reviewed in Germany on July 12, 2022
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Next to "Everybody lies" another highlight to learn more about data. Funny, insightful and a lot to learn.
One person found this helpful
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Влада
2.0 out of 5 stars Wasted my money and time
Reviewed in Australia on July 7, 2023
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The title of the book is highly misleading. It's a poorly written collection of random facts that are common sense to anyone with the slightest life experience. Highly recommended to AVOID.
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Ng Hock Lai
3.0 out of 5 stars -
Reviewed in Singapore on August 6, 2022
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Murray A. Sondergard
4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable
Reviewed in Canada on May 21, 2022
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I read Everbody Lies when it came out, and this book is just as interesting. It's written in an accessible manner and I finished the entire book in 3 sittings. Some of the findings are novel, some are what you might expect. The analysis of what to look for in dating apps was in some ways surprising and in many ways it conforms with traditional wisdom on how to find a suitable partner.
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