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Taste in an Age of Endless Choice

De: Tom Vanderbilt

Narrado por: Jeffrey Kafer

Why do we get so embarrassed when a colleague wears the same shirt? Why do we eat the same thing for breakfast every day, but seek out novelty at lunch and dinner? How has streaming changed the way Netflix makes recommendations? Why do people think the music of their youth is the best? How can you spot a fake review on Yelp?

Our preferences and opinions are constantly being shaped by countless forces–especially in the digital age with its nonstop procession of “thumbs up” and “likes” and “stars.” Tom Vanderbilt, bestselling author of Traffic, explains why we like the things we like, why we hate the things we hate, and what all this tell us about ourselves.

With a voracious curiosity, Vanderbilt stalks the elusive beast of taste, probing research in psychology, marketing, and neuroscience to answer myriad complex and fascinating questions. If you’ve ever wondered how Netflix recommends movies or why books often see a sudden decline in Amazon ratings after they win a major prize, Tom Vanderbilt has answers to these questions and many more that you’ve probably never thought to ask.

©2016 Tom Vanderbilt (P)2016 Random House Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

“[A] lively, wide-ranging study… The footnotes have a David Foster Wallace-like wit as Vanderbilt calls our attention to such issues as whether people find donuts less yummy if they taste them in a salmon cannery and whether rats enjoy grape Kool-Aid more if it is infused directly into their stomachs… Convincing… Quite funny… Clear and engaging… He is to be commended for the sheer range of material he makes accessible.” — Lisa Zeidner, The Washington Post

“To answer an age-old question – ‘Why do we like the things we like?’ – Vanderbilt navigates philosophy, economics, psychology, neurology and data science… As Vanderbilt explores the enigmatic forces driving these decisions, he paints an engaging, multilayered… picture of taste.” — Benjamin Leszcz, The Globe and Mail

“A brave and timely investigation… engulfed as we are by an ocean of science and punditry that presents human behaviour as something that can be codified, predicted and even synthesized. Swimming cheerfully against that tide, Vanderbilt makes a compelling case that most of our choice-making defies those attempts. The nature of taste in fact remains stubbornly mysterious, despite our compulsion to exercise it – and despite how that compulsion increasingly shapes modern life… Clever… Persuasive and personal. There’s no judgment here. The author leaves that job to us.” — Bruce Philp, National Post

[Citation needed]

I love good journalism. I picked this book up after reading an excerpt in Wired magazine, expecting to enjoy it thoroughly. While I did find it interesting, I felt that it choked on the one thing reputable journalists are almost universally good at: making ironclad logical connections between facts (studies, interviews, etc.) and conclusions.

Although plenty of excellent research went into this book, Vanderbilt spent a lot of time out in the weeds, drawing conclusions and making judgments that didn't seem warranted by the data. In the end, the book asked more questions than it answered, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but shouldn't be the case for a book with such an extensive bibliography. I also found that I couldn't detect the rationale for leaving some questions alone and unanswered, and answering others with speculation or theory stated as fact.

To Vanderbilt's credit, psychology is a hard subject to reach any conclusions about, and he tries hard to keep it anchored in reality despite the temptation to go the "pop psychology" route and talk about what is interesting rather than significant.

Interesting, a good intro on the topic

I found a lot of the information to be a repackaging of things I had already read about, but I studied some of this stuff in university.

What was new to me was some of the more journalistic parts of the book, like when he interviewed the people at echonest.

It's a good read, I enjoyed it overall.

Interesting topic but oh so boring!

The science of taste is fascinating and the author does a great job describing its complexities. However, the organization of the book and the “so what?” are clearly lacking and turned this story into a snooze fest!