Book · 2011
Thinking, Fast and Slow
by Daniel Kahneman
A Nobel-winning psychologist splits the mind into a fast intuitive system and a slow deliberate one, then catalogues where the fast one lies to you.
What does Reddit think of Thinking, Fast and Slow?
Ninety mentions is a small sample, and it doesn't cluster in one place. r/Bogleheads recommends it twice in the top quotes, once paired explicitly with The Psychology of Money as the antidote to "bad behavior and thoughts" rather than more index-fund theory (↑75), once flagged for its chapter on regression to the mean (↑59). r/financialindependence cites the default-settings point directly, "default settings matter a lot" (↑43), and separately reaches for loss aversion to explain why losing money stings more than an equivalent gain feels good (↑25). r/AcademicPsychology's contribution skips the book itself for its academic ancestor, Kahneman and Tversky's 1979 prospect theory paper (↑21), treating the popular book as the entry point and the journal article as the real source. Nobody in this sample argues against any of it. The disagreement, such as it exists, is about which shelf the book belongs on: psychology or personal finance.
Community feedback & reader fit
Themes
- · Loss aversion and default effects as the most-cited concepts
- · Treated as a personal finance behavioral primer as often as a psychology book
- · Prospect theory, the academic precursor, cited as the deeper source
- · Low mention volume, spread thin across finance and psychology subs
Common praise
- + r/Bogleheads recommends it as the fix for bad financial behavior, not another book about index funds (↑75).
- + r/financialindependence pulls the default-settings point out as directly actionable (↑43).
- + An r/investing comment leans on loss aversion to explain a poster's own risk-averse instincts (↑22).
Common criticism
- − An r/AcademicPsychology comment skips the book for Kahneman and Tversky's original 1979 paper instead, treating it as the more serious source (↑21).
- − At ninety mentions over seven years, the discussion never builds into anything resembling a debate; there's no dissent here to weigh against the praise.
- − None of the displayed excerpts describe reading the book cover to cover, most cite a single concept and move on.
Who it's for
Reach for this if you keep making the same investing mistake and want a name for it, that's the Bogleheads use case (↑75). If prospect theory already rings a bell from an intro psych class, you may prefer Kahneman and Tversky's original paper to the book built around it, per the r/AcademicPsychology view (↑21). Read the loss aversion chapter alone if all you need is why losing a hundred dollars feels worse than finding it, r/financialindependence treats that one chapter as the whole payoff (↑25). This isn't a book Reddit argues about. It's a book Reddit borrows single ideas from.
Mentions over time
Which Reddit comments matter for Thinking, Fast and Slow?
The most relevant excerpts across the subreddits where this book is mentioned — opinionated, argued takes first, then top-upvoted mentions. Click through to read the full thread.
“I think the behavioral books are more helpful. I don’t need 5 books to demonstrate the effectiveness of broad funds…..but I need 5 books on fighting bad behavior and thoughts The psychology of money Thinking fast and slow
“I'd like to recommend you following book. It's not about investing, but certain chapters can be applied to it. It's Nobel price winning author. **Daniel Kahneman: Thinking fast and slow.** There are several chapter which were eye opening: like explaining regression to mean, How humans tends to hav…
“As a lifelong contrarian, I feel your pain. Unfortunately, this is the essence of humanity. Optimism. Optimists get far in life. (Read “Thinking Fast and Slow”). That said, when you talk about markets you’re sharing information and getting ideas, and trying to get a sense of possible future wor…
“Some fairly popular picks, I imagine you've seen them recommended before: Scott Lilienfeld - Science and Pseudoscience in Clinical Psychology Daniel Kahneman - Thinking, fast and slow Jonathan Haidt - The Righteous Mind
“The short answer is because our behaviour is controlled by seperate interacting systems. Some of the systems we have conscious access to (such as knowledge about the effects of smoking), whereas other systems are not, and are controlled more autonomously (such as the habit of smoking to receive a r…
“My personal favorites- How Connections Heal by Maureen Walker and Wendy Rosen The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog by Bruce Perry Sometimes Therapy is Awkward by Nicole Arzt Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
“Thinking, Fast and Slow is great. I say that as a cognitive psychology professor who assigns it in my classes and gets great feedback from students who say it's changed their life, made them more intellectually humble, given insight into their habits, and so on. As other commenters mentioned, some …
“The best book out there that’s written for anyone to enjoy: Thinking fast and slow - Daniel Kahneman The author is a legend of psychology, and one of the most cited psychologist ever. They even won a noble prize for their work.
“Hey definetly read, \- daniel kahneman, thinking fast and slow (great for social psychology) \- [Emily Ralls](
“Not sure about Noise, but you should be aware that parts of Thinking Fast and Slow didn't age well following the replication crisis. The social priming stuff is mostly junk science.
“The idea that humans are primarily rational economic actors is bogus. If you’d like to explore that idea further i highly recommend the book Thinking Fast and Slow by Nobel prize winning behavioral economist Daniel Kahneman.
“It is a seminal book in the field. It is definitely worth reading. On a side note, it's annoying when people try to tell other people not to read something because it's outdated- usually, that means there are a few things in it that have been studied more (usually due to the book itself furthering r…
“Thinking fast and slow is a fantastic book.
“There’s a name for this like convenience premium. Not irrational. Thinking Fast and Slow and Predictably Irrational are good behavioral economics books that are well respected but not a slog.
“Maybe you could usefully take a look at Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow (chap. 37) as he reports studies documenting a negative correlation between the level of education (which is positively correlated with IQ as far as I know) and that of happiness, defined as the percentage of your time you sp…
Convinced? Pick up Thinking, Fast and Slow
Readers also mention
Books that share discussion threads with Thinking, Fast and Slow — counted from the comments, not curated.
Thinking, Fast and Slow — frequently asked
Is Thinking, Fast and Slow more of a psychology book or a finance book, according to Reddit?+
Both, and the split runs along subreddit lines rather than through the book itself. r/Bogleheads and r/financialindependence cite it for behavioral-finance fixes, pairing it with The Psychology of Money (↑75) and pulling out the default-settings point (↑43). r/AcademicPsychology and r/AskPsychology treat it as a psychology primer, with one comment pointing past it to Kahneman and Tversky's 1979 prospect theory paper (↑21).
What's the most-cited idea from Thinking, Fast and Slow on Reddit?+
Loss aversion, going by the displayed excerpts. An r/investing comment (↑22) and an r/financialindependence comment (↑25) both reach for it independently, the second one specifically to explain why losing money hurts more than gaining the same amount feels good. The default-effect point (↑43) is the other concept that keeps recurring.
Should I read Thinking, Fast and Slow or just learn about prospect theory directly?+
One r/AcademicPsychology comment (↑21) argues for going straight to Kahneman and Tversky's 1979 paper instead of the popular book built on top of it. That's a single data point, not a trend; everything else in this sample cites the book itself rather than its academic source.
Do Bogleheads actually recommend Thinking, Fast and Slow?+
Yes, and specifically as a behavioral corrective. One top comment (↑75) says the subreddit needs "books on fighting bad behavior and thoughts" more than more books proving index funds work, and names this one alongside The Psychology of Money. Another (↑59) singles out the regression-to-the-mean chapter as the eye-opening part.