Predictably Irrational is a book by Dan Ariely that I have been absolutely itching to read for a long time now. Tom read it while he was in VT, so I’ve gotten a few sneak previews, and this most recent discovery on TED.com was the last straw. I’m ordering the book.

In the video, Dan Ariely talks mainly about cheating, and about some of the surprising discoveries that he made about how much people cheat and ways that you can encourage or discourage cheating. What is the difference between taking someone else’s can of soda, vs taking a $1 bill lying in the refrigerator? Nothing, and everything. What difference does it make what sweatshirt someone is wearing when he/she cheats? And, how does this relate to Enron? It’s a fascinating talk, even if you never plan to read the book, but it also makes for a great teaser if you’re interested in things like this. (Don’t forget to visit the TED.com site for more fascinating talks.)

Other interesting topics that I’ve heard are covered in the book include the power and perception of things that are ‘free’, and the difference between social value and market value. I can’t wait to read the full descriptions and other interesting studies/conclusions for myself. And if his list of current projects is any indication, I’m going to be in for quite a treat.

I love being able to nip up to the ski area on a moments notice for a couple of quick runs, and still have plenty of time in the day for other activities. Our friend H came up with his kids last night, and we decided to drop our regular morning plans to hit the hill with them and H’s bro K for a while. The kids are great, and we had a fun time taking a few runs with them this morning. M and K showed me some of their tricks.

All too soon, though, it was time for Tom and I to head down to the Valley for the Yosemite Concert of the Mariposa Storytelling Festival, where they bring in professional storytellers from all across the country for a weekend of stories. Although there was a children’s storytelling session in Mariposa yesterday, these stories are mostly designed for grown-ups and there were only a few kids in the audience this afternoon. To imagine, picture one of the best storytellers you know – the person who can spin out stories that can make you laugh or cry, give them time to practice the presentation, and timing, and then give them a 20-minute time slot and a mike. The stories form the core of the experience, but there’s also a hearty helping of theatrics, songs and music. I laughed, a lot. We’d heard some of Kevin Kling‘s stories before, and enjoyed his performance very much, but my favorite story of the afternoon was told by Len Cabral about a boy who learns to tell stories. I’m a sucker for storytellers telling stories about storytelling – probably one of the reasons that I enjoyed Atonement so much (the book ending is so much better than the movie ending, by the way).

I just finished listening to Buyology by Martin Lindstrom yesterday morning while I was running on the treadmill. A decent book, but this kind of book is really better to read in a paper version so that it would be easier to flip back, and look through the interesting bits again. Having gotten to poke around a friend’s Kindle, in some ways *that* would be ideal – a place to take notes and write in the margins without actually having to write in the margins.

The most interesting part of the book, for me, was the concept of using fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) to look inside the brain for activity in various regions, to gain some insight into the ways people are really responding to your input and how they will behave. Unfortunately for me, the science was ‘popularized’ for the book, and so I ended up having a lot of questions about methodology and the interpretation of results.

It’s a little sci-fi big-brother creepy to find out that in many cases looking directly at brain activity can be a better predictor of someone’s behavior than what that someone actually says they will do. But Martin suggests that by knowing how your brain responds to various inputs, will at least make you aware of the tricksy things that Marketers are trying to pull.

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