-
Blunder
- Why Smart People Make Bad Decisions
- Narrated by: Zachary Shore, Kevin Pariseau
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Business & Careers, Career Success
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $24.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Battlegrounds
- The Fight to Defend the Free World
- By: H. R. McMaster
- Narrated by: H. R. McMaster
- Length: 17 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From Lt. General H.R. McMaster, US Army, ret., the former national security advisor and author of the best-selling classic Dereliction of Duty, comes a bold and provocative re-examination of the most critical foreign policy and national security challenges that face the United States, and an urgent call to compete to preserve America’s standing and security.
-
-
Remember: This guy was fired! WTF.
- By larry b on 09-28-20
By: H. R. McMaster
-
Tribe
- On Homecoming and Belonging
- By: Sebastian Junger
- Narrated by: Sebastian Junger
- Length: 2 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Decades before the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin lamented that English settlers were constantly fleeing over to the Indians - but Indians almost never did the same. Tribal society has been exerting an almost gravitational pull on Westerners for hundreds of years, and the reason lies deep in our evolutionary past as a communal species. The most recent example of that attraction is combat veterans who come home to find themselves missing the incredibly intimate bonds of platoon life.
-
-
The most profound book on the subject
- By joseph on 05-26-16
By: Sebastian Junger
-
Trust and Inspire
- By: Stephen M. R. Covey
- Narrated by: Stephen M. R. Covey
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We have a leadership crisis today, where even though our world has changed drastically, our leadership style has not. Most organizations, teams, schools, and families today still operate from a model of “command and control,” focusing on hierarchies and compliance from people. But because of the changing nature of the world, the workforce, work itself, and the choices we have for where and how to work and live, this way of leading is drastically outdated.
-
-
Excellent book
- By W. Wang on 05-23-22
-
The Kill Chain
- Defending America in the Future of High-Tech Warfare
- By: Christian Brose
- Narrated by: Christian Brose
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When we think about the future of war, the military and Washington and most everyone gets it backwards. We think in terms of buying single military systems, such as fighter jets or aircraft carriers. And when we think about modernizing those systems, we think about buying better versions of the same things. But what really matters is not the single system but "the battle network" - the collection of sensors and shooters that enables a military to find an enemy system, target it, and attack it.
-
-
important message but repetitive
- By Tomas Singliar on 06-06-20
By: Christian Brose
-
The Guns of August
- By: Barbara W. Tuchman
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 19 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, historian Barbara Tuchman brings to life the people and events that led up to World War I. This was the last gasp of the Gilded Age, of Kings and Kaisers and Czars, of pointed or plumed hats, colored uniforms, and all the pomp and romance that went along with war. How quickly it all changed...and how horrible it became.
-
-
Wonderful
- By Mike From Mesa on 10-28-08
-
Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers
- The Acclaimed Guide to Stress, Stress-Related Diseases, and Coping - Now Revised and Updated
- By: Robert Sapolsky
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 17 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Now in a third edition, Robert M. Sapolsky's acclaimed and successful Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers features new chapters on how stress affects sleep and addiction, as well as new insights into anxiety and personality disorder and the impact of spirituality on managing stress. As Sapolsky explains, most of us do not lie awake at night worrying about whether we have leprosy or malaria. Instead, the diseases we fear-and the ones that plague us now-are illnesses brought on by the slow accumulation of damage, such as heart disease and cancer.
-
-
The narrator is awful
- By Amazon Customer on 12-15-14
By: Robert Sapolsky
-
Battlegrounds
- The Fight to Defend the Free World
- By: H. R. McMaster
- Narrated by: H. R. McMaster
- Length: 17 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From Lt. General H.R. McMaster, US Army, ret., the former national security advisor and author of the best-selling classic Dereliction of Duty, comes a bold and provocative re-examination of the most critical foreign policy and national security challenges that face the United States, and an urgent call to compete to preserve America’s standing and security.
-
-
Remember: This guy was fired! WTF.
- By larry b on 09-28-20
By: H. R. McMaster
-
Tribe
- On Homecoming and Belonging
- By: Sebastian Junger
- Narrated by: Sebastian Junger
- Length: 2 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Decades before the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin lamented that English settlers were constantly fleeing over to the Indians - but Indians almost never did the same. Tribal society has been exerting an almost gravitational pull on Westerners for hundreds of years, and the reason lies deep in our evolutionary past as a communal species. The most recent example of that attraction is combat veterans who come home to find themselves missing the incredibly intimate bonds of platoon life.
-
-
The most profound book on the subject
- By joseph on 05-26-16
By: Sebastian Junger
-
Trust and Inspire
- By: Stephen M. R. Covey
- Narrated by: Stephen M. R. Covey
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We have a leadership crisis today, where even though our world has changed drastically, our leadership style has not. Most organizations, teams, schools, and families today still operate from a model of “command and control,” focusing on hierarchies and compliance from people. But because of the changing nature of the world, the workforce, work itself, and the choices we have for where and how to work and live, this way of leading is drastically outdated.
-
-
Excellent book
- By W. Wang on 05-23-22
-
The Kill Chain
- Defending America in the Future of High-Tech Warfare
- By: Christian Brose
- Narrated by: Christian Brose
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When we think about the future of war, the military and Washington and most everyone gets it backwards. We think in terms of buying single military systems, such as fighter jets or aircraft carriers. And when we think about modernizing those systems, we think about buying better versions of the same things. But what really matters is not the single system but "the battle network" - the collection of sensors and shooters that enables a military to find an enemy system, target it, and attack it.
-
-
important message but repetitive
- By Tomas Singliar on 06-06-20
By: Christian Brose
-
The Guns of August
- By: Barbara W. Tuchman
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 19 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, historian Barbara Tuchman brings to life the people and events that led up to World War I. This was the last gasp of the Gilded Age, of Kings and Kaisers and Czars, of pointed or plumed hats, colored uniforms, and all the pomp and romance that went along with war. How quickly it all changed...and how horrible it became.
-
-
Wonderful
- By Mike From Mesa on 10-28-08
-
Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers
- The Acclaimed Guide to Stress, Stress-Related Diseases, and Coping - Now Revised and Updated
- By: Robert Sapolsky
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 17 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Now in a third edition, Robert M. Sapolsky's acclaimed and successful Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers features new chapters on how stress affects sleep and addiction, as well as new insights into anxiety and personality disorder and the impact of spirituality on managing stress. As Sapolsky explains, most of us do not lie awake at night worrying about whether we have leprosy or malaria. Instead, the diseases we fear-and the ones that plague us now-are illnesses brought on by the slow accumulation of damage, such as heart disease and cancer.
-
-
The narrator is awful
- By Amazon Customer on 12-15-14
By: Robert Sapolsky
-
The Hundred-Year Marathon
- China's Secret Strategy to Replace America as the Global Superpower
- By: Michael Pillsbury
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the US government's leading China experts reveals the hidden strategy fueling that country's rise - and how Americans have been seduced into helping China overtake us as the world's leading superpower.
-
-
Eye Opening
- By Tim L Erwin on 07-26-18
-
Titan
- The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.
- By: Ron Chernow
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 35 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Titan is the first full-length biography based on unrestricted access to Rockefeller’s exceptionally rich trove of papers. A landmark publication full of startling revelations, the book indelibly alters our image of this most enigmatic capitalist. Born the son of a flamboyant, bigamous snake-oil salesman and a pious, straitlaced mother, Rockefeller rose from rustic origins to become the world’s richest man by creating America’s most powerful and feared monopoly, Standard Oil. Branded "the Octopus" by legions of muckrakers, the trust refined and marketed nearly 90 percent of the oil produced in America.
-
-
WOW! What a fascinating story!
- By martha on 12-17-13
By: Ron Chernow
-
LikeWar
- The Weaponization of Social Media
- By: P. W. Singer, Emerson T. Brooking
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two defense experts explore the collision of war, politics, and social media, where the most important battles are now only a click away. Through the weaponization of social media, the Internet is changing war and politics, just as war and politics are changing the Internet. Terrorists livestream their attacks, “Twitter wars” produce real world casualties, and viral misinformation alters not just the result of battles, but the very fate of nations. The result is that war, tech, and politics have blurred into a new kind of battlespace that plays out on our smartphones.
-
-
Deep analysis of the Social Media revolution
- By Ross J. Patti on 10-29-18
By: P. W. Singer, and others
-
Thinking, Fast and Slow
- By: Daniel Kahneman
- Narrated by: Patrick Egan
- Length: 20 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The guru to the gurus at last shares his knowledge with the rest of us. Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman's seminal studies in behavioral psychology, behavioral economics, and happiness studies have influenced numerous other authors, including Steven Pinker and Malcolm Gladwell. In Thinking, Fast and Slow, Kahneman at last offers his own, first book for the general public. It is a lucid and enlightening summary of his life's work. It will change the way you think about thinking. Two systems drive the way we think and make choices, Kahneman explains....
-
-
Not on audio
- By Bay Area Girl on 09-25-17
By: Daniel Kahneman
-
Islands of Destiny
- By: John Prados
- Narrated by: Richard Ferrone
- Length: 17 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Acclaimed WWII historian and military intelligence expert John Prados offers a provocative reassessment of the Allies’ battle for the Solomon Islands - a turbulent, dramatic campaign that, he argues, was the true turning point of the Pacific conflict.
-
-
Way too much detail
- By Eric on 01-15-17
By: John Prados
-
21 Lessons for the 21st Century
- By: Yuval Noah Harari
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Yuval Noah Harari's 21 Lessons for the 21st Century is a probing and visionary investigation into today's most urgent issues as we move into the uncharted territory of the future. As technology advances faster than our understanding of it, hacking becomes a tactic of war, and the world feels more polarized than ever, Harari addresses the challenge of navigating life in the face of constant and disorienting change and raises the important questions we need to ask ourselves in order to survive.
-
-
Good stuff, but mostly repeats
- By Amazon Customer on 09-13-18
-
Being Wrong
- Adventures in the Margin of Error
- By: Kathryn Schulz
- Narrated by: Mia Barron
- Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To err is human. Yet most of us go through life assuming (and sometimes insisting) that we are right about nearly everything, from the origins of the universe to how to load the dishwasher. If being wrong is so natural, why are we all so bad at imagining that our beliefs could be mistaken, and why do we react to our errors with surprise, denial, defensiveness, and shame?
-
-
A good read
- By Mike Kircher on 10-06-10
By: Kathryn Schulz
-
The Russian Understanding of War
- Blurring the Lines Between War and Peace
- By: Oscar Jonsson
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This book analyzes the evolution of Russian military thought and how Russia's current thinking about war is reflected in recent crises. What Jonsson reveals is that Russia's conception of the very nature of war is now changing, as Russian elites see information warfare and political subversion as the most important ways to conduct contemporary war. Since information warfare and political subversion are below the traditional threshold of armed violence, this has blurred the boundaries between war and peace.
-
-
Interesting book
- By Amazon Customer on 08-14-21
By: Oscar Jonsson
-
Willful Blindness
- Why We Ignore the Obvious at Our Peril
- By: Margaret Heffernan
- Narrated by: Margaret Heffernan
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Margaret Heffernan argues that the biggest threats and dangers we face are the ones we don't see - not because they're secret or invisible, but because we're willfully blind. A distinguished businesswoman and writer, she examines the phenomenon and traces its imprint in our private and working lives, and within governments and organizations, and asks: What makes us prefer ignorance? What are we so afraid of? Why do some people see more than others? And how can we change?
-
-
Why We Ignore What Is About Us
- By Lynn on 06-06-11
-
Predictably Irrational
- The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
- By: Dan Ariely
- Narrated by: Simon Jones
- Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a series of illuminating, often surprising experiments, MIT behavioral economist Dan Ariely refutes the common assumption that we behave in fundamentally rational ways. Blending everyday experience with groundbreaking research, Ariely explains how expectations, emotions, social norms, and other invisible, seemingly illogical forces skew our reasoning abilities.
-
-
Information Deficit
- By Dubi on 06-20-16
By: Dan Ariely
-
Thinking in Bets
- Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have All the Facts
- By: Annie Duke
- Narrated by: Annie Duke
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Super Bowl XLIX, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll made one of the most controversial calls in football history: With 26 seconds remaining, and trailing by four at the Patriots' one-yard line, he called for a pass instead of a handing off to his star running back. The pass was intercepted, and the Seahawks lost. Critics called it the dumbest play in history. But was the call really that bad? Or did Carroll actually make a great move that was ruined by bad luck? Even the best decision doesn't yield the best outcome every time.
-
-
A meeting that could have been an email
- By Amazon Customer on 12-03-18
By: Annie Duke
-
Noise
- A Flaw in Human Judgment
- By: Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony, Cass R. Sunstein
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the best-selling author of Thinking, Fast and Slow, the co-author of Nudge, and the author of You Are About to Make a Terrible Mistake! comes Noise, a revolutionary exploration of why people make bad judgments, and how to control both noise and cognitive bias.
-
-
Another masterpiece from Kahneman
- By JDM on 05-21-21
By: Daniel Kahneman, and others
Publisher's Summary
From colonialism to globalization, from gender wars to civil wars, or any circumstance for which our best solutions backfire, Shore demonstrates how rigid thinking can subtly lead us to undermine ourselves. In the process, he identifies seven "cognition traps" to avoid. These insidious yet unavoidable mind-sets include:
Drawing on examples from history, politics, business and economics, health care, even folk tales and popular culture, Shore illustrates the profound impact blunders can have. But he also emphasizes how understanding these seven simple cognition traps can help us all make wiser judgments in our daily lives.
For anyone whose best-laid plans have been foiled by faulty thinking, Blunder shines the penetrating spotlight of history on decision making and the patterns of thought that can lead us all astray.
More from the same
Author
What listeners say about Blunder
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
- Andy
- 07-11-09
helpful extension of the genre
Blunder is a net add to the whole "wisdom of crowds" discussion. What I liked most about this book was how Shore provided a handful of obscure but interesting examples of how decision makers'charateristics impacted their decisions. Intro by the author is solid. Narration is also solid.
12 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Joshua Kim
- 06-10-12
Critiquing "Blunder"
There is a section of my (virtual) bookshelf (stored on the Audible/Amazon cloud) that could be titled: "Why You Are an Idiot". When my spouse, kids, boss (or you) asks me how I can be so dumb so often, I can just point to these books.
My most recent addition is, Blunder: Why Smart People Make Bad Decisions by Zachary Shore.
Blunder has its limitations (see below), but is a great addition to the oeuvre books on human failure. My favorite example of this genre is,Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error by Kathryn Schulz
Other books of this type that I've read in the past couple of years include:
The Invisible Gorilla: And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us by Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons
Why We Make Mistakes: How We Look Without Seeing, Forget Things in Seconds, and
Are All Pretty Sure We Are Way Above Average by Joseph T. Hallinan
My next book is,On Second Thought: Outsmarting Your Mind's Hard-Wired Habits by Wray Herbert
Any other "dumb us" books that you can recommend?
In Blunder, Zachary Shore (who has the cool sounding job of professor of national security affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School), sets out 7 big reasons why we get things wrong.
The theme that runs through Blunder is that expertise and knowledge are necessary, but not sufficient, conditions for making good decisions.
The 7 cognitive mistakes include:
Exposure Anxiety: Our predilection to project overconfidence as a response to fear or uncertainty, based mostly on our desire not to appear weak.
Infomania: Our tendency to hoard information for ourselves, or ignore information that we don't want to hear.
Static Cling: Our desire for constancy and stability in a changing world, which leaves us unable to grasp when things have changed.
Causefusion: Our propensity to confuse correlation with causation, and to inappropriately assign a narrative to explain unrelated events.
Flatview: Our inclination to see the world in black and white terms, rather than recognizing shades of gray.
Cure-allism: Our proclivity to try and solve diverse problems with a single solution.
Mirror Imaging: Our penchant to transfer out reactions and beliefs on others, thinking that everyone will react to events the way we would.
Shore is not interested in explaining the psychological, biological, or sociological roots of our blunders,. Rather, he gives examples of when people (in government or business) screw up, then tries to understand these errors through the framework of his 7 cognitive mistakes.
Perhaps we should run through the list of 7 each time we make a big decision, but I'm afraid we might end up not making any decisions or taking any actions at all.
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- George Lober
- 09-04-09
A Gem for Critical Thinkers
For anyone interested in Critical Thinking and the traps faulty thinking can lead us into, this book is a must! Shore offers one of those rare gems of intellectual thought: a thoroughly accessible, clear, engagingly written work, supported with one compelling and illustrative anecdote or example after another from a variety of fields, including history, biology, psychology, economics, and literature. The result is a book that is not just enlightening in its analysis, but absolutely enjoyable to read.
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Andrew Raymond
- 06-17-11
Pulls No Punches
A splendid introduction to the concept of cognition traps, into which we all inevitably fall, and which we all need to learn to avoid and recover from. Well read by the author, who clearly has the a passion for the subject.
Once caveat for the listener -- if you have any problem hearing candid analysis of what went/is going wrong in Vietnam, Iraq, or Afganistan, then this may potentially offend you. However, be advised that the author DOES teach to various staff of DoD and the US armed forces, so he does, in my opinion, present these without and deliberate biases.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Eric
- 02-07-11
Worth the listen, enlightening
Good book overall, a worthwhile look at the mental stumbling blocks that cause people to commit to counter-productive courses of action. I found the case he makes for each of his points interesting, and I was able to look at my own decision making in light of each of his points. I did find some of his made up words a little annoying, insisting on using "Cause-fusion" to refer to the confusion of causal relationships irritating, especially when it conjugated into other verb forms, "He was cause-fused..." I also found his example for the final chapter to be too mired in his own interests - as a blind person, he was clearly interested in the example of another blind person recovering part of his site, but the example ended up feeling somewhat contrived, and went on too long.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- SAMA
- 12-18-09
Finally, A Book Everyone Must Have
You have what it takes to shine, but sometimes find yourself falling flat? I thought I had to work extra hard and go through struggles to achieve my goals, until I got this book. I realized that altering my approaches just a little, with the concepts mentioned in this book in mind, helped me get ahead more.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Delano
- 02-02-10
Don't waste your time
I was expecting a book based on solid psychology research. Instead, it's a "historian" making obvious points, yet basing them on very little evidence. To make each point he goes on for about 20 minutes longer than necessary - it sounds like this book received no editing at all. And his use of historical examples is very simplistic to the point of being amateurish. Apparently he's really a professor, but I shudder to think that this is how students are being taught history. Please, choose any other book in this category instead.
9 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Gaye Dennison
- 02-27-11
Only Human
Found this very interesting, smart people can make mistakes, but a wise person would learn from theirs.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Claire
- 11-15-19
Some interesting points but repetitive
There are some good points in this book - however they are emphasized so emphatically that they get repetitive and a bit annoying. Additionally the order of the book left me a bit confused/felt a bit disjointed. However, the narration was quite good and the author has clearly done his research. I really enjoyed the stories from history and the focus on the concept of "if we don't learn about the past we are doomed to repeat it". Understanding human error is definitely a worthy endeavour and this audiobook is a good introduction to the field for a non-expert.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Otis
- 04-06-12
Good points but stories are boring
What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?
More interesting events
What didn’t you like about Zachary Shore and Kevin Pariseau ’s performance?
Performance was Okay.
What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?
Truths
Any additional comments?
More modernized events to bring point home to the listner.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Anon
- 03-24-16
Everyone needs to read or listen to this book
We live in a world where more and more people are educated however there is a distinct lack of wisdom in them. Their contribution to the wellbeing of the planet is questionable at times due to some of the cognition traps as described in this book. Could the world be a better place if we practiced more wisdom?