Don't Trust Your Gut

Using Data to Get What You Really Want in Life

By: Seth Stephens-Davidowitz

Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon

Length: 6 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

Seth Stephens-Davidowitz is as good a data storyteller as I have ever met.” — Steven Levitt, co-author, Freakonomics

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.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 Seth Stephens-Davidowitz (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers

Very Interesting and informative

I really liked this book.
Its very refreshing to actually here about data driven information and advice based on that.

Insightful even for a data-minded person

I’m a Data Scientist by trade, and I think about many of these topics frequently, but Seth has still opened my mind in a number of ways.

Not as good as “Everybody lyes”

I was impressed with previous book by this author and was waiting for another great book from him that will be also based on data. This book despite being not bad overall in my opinion is not as good as the previous one and I didn’t have that level of enjoyment while listening to it. The first one though I will probably listen again in future
I would recommend this book only for people who are still trying to find their significant other, because big part of the book is about it

Good stories, great facts …

… sprinkled sometimes randomly across different chapters and a few loose ends. But, overall, a very insightful and useful book.

Good book - but sex is better

the most important happiness factor (sex/intimacy). Great book for everyone to rethink what makes a persons life more enjoyable/happy.

Good Book

I enjoyed the book through most of the chapters. It is captivating, thought-provoking and funny. However, I can't help but feel like much of what was said was common knowledge.
It is nice sometimes to see how data proves what we already new, but I expected more shocking results from this book like the ones mentioned in Everybody lies

Enlightenmenting

Enlightening, funny, and understandable. All backed by science. Loved it
Loved it loved it loved it - as I get in the mandatory 15 words.

SSD does it again

Like mark manson, Stephens-Davidowitz has penned a must-read kinda-sorta self-help book that relies on the humor of the human condition to drive the work.

Stephens-Davidowitz's angle is analytical science vs the former's philosophical approach to why we think we make better, more thoughtful decisions than in actual reality.

The audio format is expertly read by the author which gives a refreshingly informal university lecture feel to the work. the jokes come at appropriate times and one can imagine the author laughing at his own findings while tapping on his keyboard.

if you're on the fence, get over said fence and buy this!

great book!

overall great book!
there are a few sections that were hard to get through. But I enjoyed the book and what it has to offer!

Very good, but you get what you paid for.

Let me start by saying this book is great! A lot of great insight into true human nature and actions. The chapter on the data of becoming an entrepreneur is worth the price of the book if you are looking to starting your own business.

My only negative, and this really isn’t a surprise or a knock on the book, is that it’s not the most exciting read. Which is to be expected for a book on data analysis of humans. The narrator did a great job! And the author made it as exciting of a read as possible, but in terms of being a bit boring with all the info, you get what you paid for.

Still highly recommend this book. Changed the way I view the world from an assumption stand point. I will now think twice before making gut judgements and assumptions about people or situations.