Smart Choices: A Practical Guide to Making Better Decisions | 
 enlarge | Authors: John S. Hammond, Ralph L. Keeney, Howard Raiffa
Publisher: Broadway
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $8.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  44 reviews
Sales Rank: 16401
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.6
ISBN: 0767908864
Dewey Decimal Number: 153.83
EAN: 9780767908863
ASIN: 0767908864
Publication Date: March 5, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
Have you ever hired someone only to regret your decision two months later? Or looked at your financial portfolio and wondered why you bought the stocks you did? In Smart Choices, authors John S. Hammond, Ralph L. Keeney, and Howard Raiffa take the guesswork out of the decision-making process and offer a systematic approach to making the right choice. Most of us have problems making decisions, because we've never learned how. The authors write: Despite the importance of decision making to our lives, few of us ever receive any training in it. So we are left to learn from experience. But experience is a costly, inefficient teacher that teaches us bad habits along with good ones. Because decision situations vary so markedly, the experience of making one important decision often seems of little use when facing the next. Smart Choices outlines eight elements involved in making the right decision, from identifying exactly what the decision is and specifying your objectives to considering risk tolerance and looking at how what you decide on today influences what you may decide in the future. The book is full of real-life situations and scenarios that effectively illustrate each element of a good decision. If you think the topic of making the right choice is mundane or a simple matter of common sense, then think again. Smart Choices will relieve you of the regret that so many of us carry because we didn't know how to "think it through." --Harry C. Edwards
Product Description
Where should I live?
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Decisions shape our experiences, from choosing which job offer to accept, to buying the right car, to selecting a good accountant. How do we know which choice is the smart one? How can we be consistent and confident in our decisions? In this book from the three leading authorities on decision-making, readers learn how to approach all types of decisions with a simple set of skills developed by professors from Harvard, MIT, and the University of Southern California.
Combining solid research with common sense and practical experience, this user-friendly guide shows readers how to assess deep-seated objectives, create a comprehensive set of alternatives, determine likely consequences, make tradeoffs, and grapple with uncertainty. Not only will readers learn how to make decisions, they will learn how to make the smartest decisions. For anyone caught at a confusing crossroad–whether you’re choosing between mutual funds or deciding where to retire–the Smart Choices program will improve your decision-making abilities immediately, and make your life more rewarding and fulfilling.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 39 more reviews...
 Packaged decision making July 29, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
A colleague once told me that Steven Covey's 7 habits is packaged common sense. This book is packaged decision making. Doubtless all of us use some or all of the techniques and methodologies described in this book, but probably not in as cohesive and efficient a manner. The authors divide their basic decision making methodology into the following:
1. Problem description
2. Defining objectives
3. Generating viable alternatives
4. Evaluating consequences of alternatives
5. Considering tradeoffs between alternatives
They also discuss:
6. Uncertainty
7. Risk tolerance
8. Linked decisions
9. Psychological traps (behavioral issues)
10. How to implement and refine the system
I have just completed the book, and liked the content and the writing which is replete with useful examples. It remains to be seen how easy it is to implement the methodology and make it habit.
 Accessible and practical--the best guide to making decisions June 24, 2008
Most books on decision-making fall into two categories--anecdotal and analytical. The anecdotal ones provide insights, motivation, and case studies of decisions, but few specific techniques. The analytical ones provide powerful techniques, but require mathematical sophistication and often lose sight of the more subjective aspects of decision-making. This book provides the perfect balance. There are specific techniques, clearly stated and backed up with case studies involving common personal decisions. It addresses the key concerns in any decision--understanding the problem, goals, and alternatives, balancing multiple conflicting goals, and dealing with uncertainty.
You can read this book quickly, but I'd suggest you then give it a more thoughtful re-reading since it is full of powerful techniques for making decisions. The Even Swap method alone is worth the price of the book. This simple technique helps you make a decision when you have multiple, competing goals or considerations, as is usually the case in the choices we all need to make. It surfaces the key issues and succeeds in cases in which more complex, analytical techniques fall apart. This is an excellent book for anyone who makes personal or business decisions...and isn't that all of us?
Dull reading at times, but still a "smart choice" May 15, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
The underlying principles in "Smart Choices" are intuitive: be focused and be thorough. While trudging through its tedious explanations can be a chore, "Smart Choices" raises several thought-provoking points in good decision making.
First, decision alternatives aren't always as they seem. With some effort, finding new, creative alternatives can often provide a better reward than looking at the obvious choices. Moreover, the decision itself may end up being a completely different one altogether, once one takes the time to define it.
Chapter 11 also contains compelling information on the psychology of a decision. Word phrasing, anchoring, heuristics and a host of other "traps" can affect an otherwise soundly conceived decision. As a reader, Chapter 11 also provides a much-needed interesting finish to the dullness of the material in rest of the book.
You'll find that much of the information communicated in "Smart Choices" goes well beyond the "OK, I get it" phase. Superfluous explanations abound, as the entirety of the book could be conveyed in under fifty pages (opposed to its current 244). Even so, more case studies and graphs, and less verbal filler, could do the book justice in communicating its ideas effectively.
Like so many business-applied-to-life systematizations, the practicality of "Smart Choices" only goes so far. Nevertheless, the elements that are practical can have a huge impact in how you formulate decisions. Three and half stars.
Wise Decision Making March 11, 2008
The ability to make smart choices is a fundamental life skill and this is a no-nonsense and practical book written by three academics. If you're looking for a guide to making better decisions, whether in private life or business, look no further. The set-up of the book is brilliant. It starts qualitatively with stating the problem, objectives, consequences, alternatives etc. and leads to more quantitative tools incl. my favoured decision tree within uncertainty and risk tolerance. The final chapter says it all what this fine book is about; The Wise Decision Maker.
Perfect Choice September 4, 2007
If you want to know about decision making and want to understand everything that is written, buy this one. Very good.
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