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Maxims for Thinking Analytically: The wisdom of legendary Harvard Professor Richard Zeckhauser Paperback – June 25, 2021

by Dan Levy (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 459 ratings
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This book will help you think more analytically. Doing so will enable you to better understand the world around you, to make smarter decisions, and to ultimately live a more fulfilling life. It draws on the maxims of Richard Zeckhauser, a legendary Harvard professor, who has helped hundreds of students and colleagues progress toward these goals. These maxims, one-sentence nuggets of wisdom that capture key principles for clear and effective thinking, are illustrated with practical examples from Richard’s colleagues and students. From these examples, you will learn how one colleague saved money on her wedding by thinking probabilistically, how Richard and his wife Sally made an agonizing health decision that significantly boosted Sally’s survival probabilities, and how the prime minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong, used a maxim he learned from Richard 40 years ago to understand and deal with COVID-19 in his nation. This book provides vital insights for anyone who wants to think more effectively about the world. The author, Dan Levy, teaches at the Harvard Kennedy School, where he has been a close faculty colleague and mentee of Richard Zeckhauser for more than 15 years.
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  1. Print length
    252 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    June 25, 2021
  4. Dimensions
    5.25 x 0.63 x 8 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    173534088X
  6. ISBN-13
    978-1735340883
  7. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Spending an hour talking to Richard Zeckhauser is like having a massive dose of wisdom injected into your brain. It can be hard to keep up.This book provides a sample of that wisdom in small and digestiblechunks. It is a treasure."
- Richard H. Thaler, Winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, University of Chicago Professor, and author of "Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness" and "Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics"

"This book reveals a creative mindand a caring heart. Richard Zeckhauser's maxims help us become smarterand better. Analysis does not equal paralysis; it leads to wiserdecision making. Join the thousands of Harvard students and faculty whohave benefited from Richard's wisdom: read Maxims for ThinkingAnalytically." - Iris Bohnet, Harvard Kennedy School Professor, author of What Works: Gender Equality by Design

"Richard Zeckhauser has few if any equals in insights and wisdom delivered per hour, especially when the subject involves risk and uncertainty. This book makes much of that knowledge available to its readers."
- Mike Spence, Winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics, New York University Professor

"Maxims for Thinking Analytically was a true eye opener to me. As a professional in a game which is based on probability, it was shocking to realize that I am pretty bad in estimating chances and using probability in everyday life."
- Marion Michielsen, two-time world champion in bridge and frequent bridge partner of Richard Zeckhauser

"Richard Zeckhauser is a savvy producer and consumer in a noisymarketplace of ideas. His maxims are a crash course in thinkingeffectively."
- Phil Tetlock, University Professor, University of Pennsylvania, author of Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction

About the Author

Dan Levy has taught quantitative methods, policy analysis, and program evaluation at Harvard University for more than 15 years. He has conducted evaluations of social programs in a wide range of settings including Burkina Faso, Indonesia, Jamaica, Mexico, Niger, Tanzania, and the United States. He is a passionate educator and currently serves as the faculty director of the Public Leadership Credential, the Harvard Kennedy School's flagship online learning initiative. He has won several teaching awards, including the university-wide David Pickard Award for Teaching and Mentoring. He wrote Teaching Effectively with Zoom: A practical guide to engage your students and help them learn. His teaching was featured in a book titled Invisible Learning by David Franklin. He grew up in Venezuela and received his PhD in Economics from Northwestern University.Richard Zeckhauser is the Frank P. Ramsey Professor of Political Economy, Kennedy School, Harvard University. He graduated from Harvard College (summa cum laude) and received his PhD there. He is an elected fellow of the Econometric Society, the Institute of Medicine (National Academy of Sciences), and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2014, he was named a Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association. His contributions to decision theory and behavioral economics include the concepts of quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), status quo bias, betrayal aversion, and ignorance (states of the world unknown) as a complement to the categories of risk and uncertainty. Many of his policy investigations explore ways to promote the health of human beings, to help markets work more effectively, and to foster informed and appropriate choices by individuals and government agencies. Zeckhauser has published more than 300 articles. Apart from academics, Zeckhauser is a Senior Principal at Equity Resource Investments, a real estate private equity firm. He has won multiple national championships in contract bridge.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Dan Levy (June 25, 2021)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 252 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 173534088X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1735340883
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.25 x 0.63 x 8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 459 ratings

About the author

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Dan Levy

Dan Levy

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Dan Levy has been a faculty member at Harvard University for over 15 years, where he has held various positions related to promoting excellence in teaching and learning. He currently serves as the faculty director of the Public Leadership Credential, the Harvard Kennedy School's flagship online learning initiative. His teaching was featured in Instructional Moves, a project conducted by the Harvard Graduate School of Education aimed at helping faculty incorporate and refine high-leverage teaching practices. He co-founded Teachly, a web application aimed at helping faculty members to teach more effectively and more inclusively. He has won several teaching awards, including the university-wide David Pickard Award for Teaching and Mentoring. He is passionate about effective teaching and learning, and enjoys sharing his experience and enthusiasm with others.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
459 global ratings
A Marvelous Book Not to Be Missed!
5 Stars
A Marvelous Book Not to Be Missed!
Richard Zeckhauser is a remarkable scholar who thinks in the most rigorous analytical terms and can apply it from everything from global policy to personal problems. Dan Levy has assembled a book that anyone who must make decisions (i.e., EVERYONE) will find of immense value. Highly Recommended!
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Top reviews from the United States

Deniz M.
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book packed with wisdom
Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2022
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Dr. Dan Levy does an excellent job of making Professor Richard Zeckhauser’s wisdom about analytical thinking accessible to everyone. This book is packed with practical examples of statistical inference, thinking tools, and mental models that help you understand the complexity of the world we live in and analyze the problems and decisions we face. The maxims are well-written and include jargon-free tools that individuals have to have in their decision-making toolbox.

This book demonstrates how the visions and expertise of legendary Professor Zeckhauser profoundly impact his students and colleagues at Harvard. As illustrated by the successes of his students, his wisdom has the potential to substantially change individuals’ decision-making processes and behaviors. Thanks to Levy, this wisdom is now available to a wider audience!

My favorite is Maxim 6, titled “Think Probabilistically About the World,” in which Levy provides useful examples about how to make sense of probabilistic information. For example, if you were told in 2016 that Donald Trump had a 29% chance of winning, and you knew that that did not mean that only 29% of sampled voters are going to vote for Trump, the election results would not have been as shocking. In this maxim, you will learn what that 29% actually meant. This maxim also emphasizes the importance of creating a mental habit of assigning probabilities to daily events and personal issues and how this practice would improve your decision-making. It even describes how comparing the probabilities of being attacked by bears or being killed in a bus accident would resolve a particular decision-making problem.

Dan Levy combines Richard Zeckhauser’s wisdom with that of scholars across many disciplines. I particularly appreciated Chris Robert’s quote in Maxim 6 about probabilistic thinking: “Accepting that everything is effectively uncertain and that my thoughts, hopes, and actions can at best indirectly influence the world by influencing probability distributions: this has brought me a kind of peace through acceptance, and a greater mastery over the world around me.”

As a scholar who specializes in decision-making in complex socio-technical systems, I am aware of how challenging it can be to distill academic knowledge into such practical terms for a general audience – in particular for a seemingly technical topic like analytical thinking. Levy breaks free of the orthodoxy that considers analytical thinking as belonging to the engineering and science world and makes analytical thinking tools accessible to everyone. Overall, it is a great guide to thinking analytically and dealing with decision-making challenges under uncertainty.

Deniz Marti, PhD
Postdoctoral fellow at Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS)
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Kindle Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Good book but …
Reviewed in the United States on July 13, 2022
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but who am i to evaluate the correctness of all this wisdom. some points need reading other books , or may be studying quite a bit . hoped those pointers were given. reading once may not be enough .
3 people found this helpful
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Miriam Fagan
5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific read!
Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2021
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I have had the opportunity to attend several of Richard Zeckhauser‘s lectures at Harvard Kennedy School. I left each with new insights into my own analytical thinking and how to more effectively teach my students. Dan Levy‘s book, Maxims for Thinking Analytically, does a wonderful job of pulling together the full range of Richard’s concepts into a single digestible read. Richard’s ideas are organized into 19 maxims which makes the book a useful reference. The examples and narratives provided by those who use Richard’s teachings bring the concepts to life. I have already adopted several ideas in the book and know will be using more of them in the future.

Mark Fagan
Lecturer in Public Policy
Harvard Kennedy School
8 people found this helpful
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Avid reader
3.0 out of 5 stars Appropriately Priced at $5
Reviewed in the United States on September 9, 2021
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The Good: The maxims in the book all make sense and are useful. Dr. Zeckhauser sounds like a wonderful mentor.

The Bad: Continual name dropping of Nobel Prize winners, the Harvard School of Economics, and its numerous elite intellectual alumni becomes annoying after awhile.

Many cases discussed in the book were left unresolved, particularly with regard to COVID policy. Some answers were given at the end of the book on page 211, but it would have been nice to know up front that the answer key is at the end.

Overall, the book is worth the money but a bit unsatisfying while reading it.
33 people found this helpful
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Alain
5.0 out of 5 stars A love letter to Zeckhauser...
Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2021
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this is an exquisitely well written book. logical, well organized, filled with practical advice. when you think you just need one more example to get it...they provide it. the anecdotes are hit or miss...but mostly hits. the maxims are simple, deceptively so, because it requires enormous practical experience to master them.

it is lite ... and can be read in one sitting, but only can be internalized and practiced in a lifetime. the younger you are the more beneficial this book will be for you....

Zeckhauser is an intellectual Everest at Harvard and in policy, starting out with Schelling and Macnamara...his advice is grounded, practical and useful. highly recommended.
11 people found this helpful
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Ioana Petrescu
5.0 out of 5 stars Raises maxim books to a new level
Reviewed in the United States on September 9, 2021
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Richard Zeckhauser manages to distill complex topics into simple maxims that should become a must read for everyone. All of us would benefit if politicians and voters will think analytically in the way this book suggests. Also, anyone who wants to lead an organization should start with Maxim 8 (Good decisions sometimes have poor outcomes) and continue with Maxim 11 (Don't be limited by the options you have in front of you). The last one should also be compulsory reading for bureaucrats, in my opinion. Overall, the book is easy to read and a great resource to everyone who wants to think effectively.
3 people found this helpful
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Educator in US
5.0 out of 5 stars All graduate students should own a copy
Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2021
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This book will be read, and reread, frequently for the wisdom it imparts. Dan Levy explores a master economist's key teaching principles. He provides examples applying these principles to day-to-day personal decisions (should I purchase insurance on my iPhone?) and complicated public policy decisions (how to use the tax code to promote worker training?) - as well as everything in between. The content is stellar. My only critique is the title, "Maxims for Thinking Analytically", does not capture what this book really is about: "Wisdom for Work and Life" would be more fitting. But once you start reading, that becomes abundantly clear.
21 people found this helpful
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robert zeckhauser
5.0 out of 5 stars A renowned Harvard behavioral economist shares in-depth nineteen guides to decision making.
Reviewed in the United States on April 21, 2022
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The reader gets the benefit of professor who has taught and published across many fields for more than fifty years. Former students are government officials around the globe, academics and professionals. If you read this book, you'll find many testimonials from them for how Zeckhauser helped shape their thinking and decision making processes. Many of the maxims will help in confronting ordinary life situations. It's down-to-earth, but cognitively excellent.
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Top reviews from other countries

Mauricio
5.0 out of 5 stars Good
Reviewed in Mexico on August 13, 2023
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Arunkumar
5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome framework for thinking Analytically.
Reviewed in India on March 19, 2022
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Good collection of Maxims. Good examples of how each one is implemented. Might be little hard to read. I did it in 3 days splitting it into three 2 hour reading sessions, reading light in the sections that had more than one example. As an additional advantage you get to people from various fields.
3 people found this helpful
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Stefan
5.0 out of 5 stars Making good decisions, a prescriptive perspective
Reviewed in Germany on December 21, 2021
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For many decades now, Richard Zeckhauser has been one of the leading scholars on human decision making, especially from a prescriptive perspective. That is, he accepts that humans are human indeed (being emotional, confused by complexity, looking to others), and aims to provide advice that helps people to make better decisions, on the spot. During a successful career in research and teaching multiple cohorts of future decision makers from all over the world, Richard developed simple rules, maxims, for successful decision making that all of us can easily apply in our daily work (and beyond). In this book, Dan Levy together with Richard collected and organized the experiences of many of Richard’s former students and advisees around these maxims. The interplay of the practitioner-provided examples from several fields (from business to public health), with additional commentary illustrating the key insights from Richard’s thinking, makes the book both exciting and useful reading.
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FS
5.0 out of 5 stars Full of wisdom about how to make better decisions and also about how to live fuller, happier lives
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 10, 2021
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Dan Levy has written a wonderful, compassionate book, that allows readers to tap into the wisdom of Richard Zeckhauser and his legendary 40-year standing course in Analytical Thinking at the Harvard Kennedy School. I believe is wonderful, because it is written in language that is accessible for the non-specialized reader, without losing the essence of the principles. And it is compassionate because it is cognizant of the mental biases and flaws human beings have in the process of thinking and decision-making.

There are maxims here that have the potential to enhance decision-making and help readers live a better life, organized around five areas: thinking straight, dealing with uncertainty, decision-making, understanding policy, and living fully. They are all illustrated with specific examples from real-life situations, going from choosing a marriage partner, cancer treatments, or designing and implementing an appropriate Covid19 response strategy; told by a wide range of people from Zeckhauser's teaching assistants to the Prime Minister of Singapore.

My favorite maxims incidentally came back-to-back in the book. Number 14 on applying the notion of elasticity - often elusive even to economics' students - to everyday situations. Love the notion that we cannot decide between doing more of A or more of B, without considering how much of A and B are we already doing, to begin with. Amazing to how many situations this simple principle applies! And then Number 15, on the importance of understanding heterogeneity in data, that is not particularly relying on averages, because the average person more often than not is actually an individual that does not look alike anybody, be it an individual or group. Instead, understanding heterogeneity allows you to divide the population into sub-groups, with very different characteristics and behaviors. I found the example on how understanding heterogeneity in Covid19 transmission of average rates - groups with very low contagion rates versus "super-spreaders" very enlightening when thinking about Covid19 policy responses.

Don't be put off by jargon, an additional value-added of the book is to teaching you some vocabulary that will make you sound sophisticated in cocktail parties!

Highly recommended.
5 people found this helpful
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Ng Hock Lai
4.0 out of 5 stars -
Reviewed in Singapore on January 25, 2023
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