The Art of Choosing » (Unabridged)

Sheena Iyengar's groundbreaking research on choice has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the National Security Education Program, as well as by private institutions. In 2001, she received the Presidential Early Career Award and in 2005 she was invited to serve as a fellow at Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study. She holds degrees from UPenn, The Wharton School of Business, and Stanford University (from which she also received the prestigious Best Dissertation Award in 1998, for her work "Choice and its Discontents.") She is a professor at Columbia University.

Iyengar's work is regularly cited in the media, in periodicals as diverse as Fortune and Time magazines, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, as well as on National Public Radio and in books such as Blink by Malcolm Gladwell and The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz. She lives in New York City.

In an era of ever-expanding choices, HOW WE CHOOSE addresses the simple-yet-mystifying question : How do we know what we want?

The answers are strange, impressive, and profound. Sheena Iyengar, a Columbia University professor whose work on choice is widely recognized and cited by companies like AOL and Citigroup, looks into the heart of what we desire— and what we think we desire— to show how tangential factors enter into (and run roughshod) over our decisions.

Whether we're trying to be "as unique as everyone else"— ordering a different entree because our tablemate already ordered what we wanted— or losing ourselves in a maze of dubious distinctions (debating six TV brands that all originate from the same factory), Iyengar elegantly shows how our impulses— much more than our good sense— influence our wants. From the grocery aisle to the altar, and from east to west, HOW WE CHOOSE is a definitive primer on what makes us tick in a world...

The New York Times - Virginia Postrel

A congenial writer, Iyengar is less hard-edged and ideological than [Barry] Schwartz and less glib than Malcolm Gladwell…The Art of Choosing should appeal to fans of both writers. It's full of the experimental results that make for good cocktail party chatter, but it offers fewer explicit lessons. Iyengar favors exploration over conclusions. "Isn't this interesting?" she asks, rather than "Isn't this awful?" or "Isn't this useful?"…Unlike "provocative" books designed to stir controversy, The Art of Choosing is refreshingly thought-provoking. Contemplating Iyengar's wide-ranging exploration of choice leads to new questions…