In the 1975 movie Love and Death, Woody Allen’s spoof of the brooding sensibilities of Russian literature, Allen plays the cowardly soldier Boris to Diane Keaton’s Sonja. At a critical juncture in the film, when the Russians are under assault by Napoleon’s troops, Boris asks his lover: “Are you scared of dying?” Sonja ponders the… Read more
I quit smoking many years ago, but even today I can recall the unpleasantness of that time—the cravings, the obsessive thoughts. My strategy was to keep my mind and body busy all the time, in order to keep my thoughts of cigarettes at bay. Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn’t. I relapsed a few… Read more
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced today that it will add graphic warning labels to cigarette cartons, a move cheered by public health officials. But how effective will these disgusting images really be in changing smokers’ behavior–and even more important, in preventing young people from starting in the first place? Can they compete with… Read more
Need a nap? Find yourself a hammock For grownups, drifting off for an afternoon snooze is often easier said than done. But many of us have probably experienced just how simple it can be to catch those zzz’s in a gently rocking hammock. By examining brain waves in sleeping adults, researchers reporting in the June… Read more
This website appears to be dedicated to romance and dating, and interestingly, the writers there have discovered On Second Thought. There is actually quite a lot in the book that’s related to romantic decision making, and this post focuses on the Decoy Heuristic–a powerful bias that affects our choices in untoward ways. The post also… Read more
Dig out that old tent and Coleman stove. It’s time to get outside and commune with nature. In honor of the summer solstice, here is a short excerpt from On Second Thought, on our deep-wired “biological bias”—our mind’s intimate connection to all things natural. Some of the most powerful evidence for this bias comes from… Read more
I wrote this short piece a couple years ago, when Tiger Woods first began choking in the major tournaments. I thought of it again when Rory McIlroy choked big-time in the Masters a couple months ago, then again when he remained as cool as could be while dominating the US Open. What was the difference?… Read more
Say you are traveling in a foreign country, trying to find your way through the bustling capital city. Not Paris or London, some place a bit edgier. Bangkok. You don’t speak the language, and you’re a little frazzled. You walk into a café for some respite, and to your surprise to see a fellow you… Read more