Wait

The Art and Science of Delay

De: Frank Partnoy

Narrado por: Sean Runnette

A passionate polemic in favor of pausing to think, not blink.

What do these scenarios have in common: a professional tennis player returning a serve, a woman evaluating a first date across the table, a naval officer assessing a threat to his ship, and a comedian about to reveal a punch line?

In this counterintuitive and insightful work, author Frank Partnoy weaves together findings from hundreds of scientific studies and interviews with wide-ranging experts to craft a picture of effective decision making that runs contrary to our brutally fast-paced world. Thought technology is exerting new pressures to speed up our lives, it turns out that the choices we make––unconsciously and consciously, in time frames varying from milliseconds to years—benefit profoundly from delay. Taking control of time and slowing down our responses yields better results in almost every arena of life—even when time seems to be of the essence.

The procrastinator in all of us will delight in Partnoy’s accounts of celebrity “delay specialists,” from Warren Buffett to Chris Evert to Steve Kroft, underscoring the myriad ways in which delaying our reactions to everyday choices—large and small—can improve the quality of our lives.

Frank Partnoy is the George E. Barrett Professor of Law and Finance and is codirector of the Center on Corporate and Securities Law at the University of San Diego. He is one of the world’s leading experts on the complexities of modern finance and financial market regulation. He is also the author of several works of nonfiction.

©2012 Frank Partnoy (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Having mined the best of American research in fields as wide-ranging as finance, behavioral economics, and law, Frank Partnoy has written a beguilingly readable treatise that boils down to a single, easily digestible conclusion: in our busy modern lives, most of us react too quickly. Wait will naturally and rightly be compared to Daniel Kahneman’sThinking, Fast and Slow as a trailblazing book exploring the hidden crannies and the treacherous pitfalls of human decision-making. I wholeheartedly recommend it.”—(Roger Lowenstein, New York Times bestselling author of The End of Wall Street and When Genius Failed)

“Wait is one of those rare books that will change not just the way you think but the way you act. The book is full of ideas that are fascinating, useful—and at times mind-blowing. I was captivated.” (Bethany McLean, New York Times bestselling coauthor of The Smartest Guys in the Room)

“Frank Partnoy turns conventional wisdom on its head with this counterintuitive approach to decision-making. Rather than telling us how to make decisions faster and faster, he mines and refines a rich lode of information from experts in a surprising variety of fields to demonstrate the power of delay, whether measured in milliseconds, days, or decades. Wait is a great read, chock-full of fascinating insights.” (Daniel H. Pink, New York Times bestselling author of Drive and A Whole New Mind)

Oh Don't wait, read this now.

This books goes against so much conventional wisdom, that you may be tempted to just throw it down. But it makes good sense. This author dispels myths that have held back many children and others. Listen to it, see or hear if it changes your POV.

Pretty good concepts

Conceptually I enjoyed the book, but I did feel the author went too deep into details of special examples. Overall I learned a lot

Petty good

Some parts are excellent others are not. The ideas presented are simple but profound. It will help you in your decision making process.

Meandering ruminations on the counterproductivity of quickness

A meandering collection of ruminations on when it’s best to be slow, to procrastinate, to delay responding or taking action.

I was WAITing for more substance

Not enough substance for me so I practiced patience and read the whole thing but this book never delivered enough for me to recommend it to others. It didn't give me anything I wanted to bring up with friends later which is something I hope for when reading a book of this type.

Fascinating topic and research!!

Portnoy held me spellbound from chapter to chapter, probing the intricacies and importance of delay. He dances from Cricket to fighter pilots to pigeons explaining the capacity and the benefit of delay to allow observation and processing before acting.
In the midst of that dance, he pauses to touch on varied subjects such as unconscious bias, economic theory and policy valuation. He gives a rational thinker some pause to consider the factors we are balancing, the assumptions we have made and yet unknown risks which could shape an optimal decision if we actively delay just a bit. Bravo

Interesting

Good book overall, and a rock solid premise with which I already agreed so I am a little biased.

The only real issue is that he doesn't treat some of his research with a critical enough eye. He repeats a good deal of research made popular in a number of other books on behavioral economics and pop psychology even though that research isn't really that solid.

Science writer Ed Yong recently made a splash by pointing out that one of the cited bits of research in this book is not replicable. This is a basic tenet of scientific research that even an attentive high school student understands. If your experiment cannot be replicated, it's not valid. Yale psych prof John Bargh is the author of a study on priming where various test subjects were supposedly tested on one thing, when in fact they were being "primed" to think (or not think) of the elderly, and the old. Supposedly the test subjects who were exposed to the "old" words and images would subsequently walk and move slower after such priming.

Only problem is that no one has been able to replicate the study.

Now of course this is a review about the book "Wait" and not about Professor Bargh, but the larger point is that the author apparently did his research, not by looking at actual research but by reading other popularized books on research. Bargh's study is the most glaring, but the author makes a habit of citing a number of such questionable studies.

Which is unfortunate because his basic premise is solid, but he has treated his subject in a rather sloppy manner. Still worth reading, but it falls short of being as excellent of a book as the subject really warranted.

A Good Counterpoint and Worth the Money

Any additional comments?

The information in this book offers some perspective on books like Gladwell's "Blink" and the Getting Things Done movement and reassures those of us not not convinced about the benefits of multitasking and instant-whatever. The narrator started to remind me of a TV preacher after a while, but it was tolerable.

Starts strong, but loses its way

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Stick to the premise of the book--waiting--more closely throughout the discussion.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

Most interesting was the discussion of athletes and high-volume traders.

What does Sean Runnette bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The ability to "read" it on my way to work.

Was Wait worth the listening time?

Yes

Any additional comments?

The book starts off with a very interesting few chapters about the importance of waiting on the micro-scale. Thematically, the book is very tight in the first few chapters, but towards the end the author seems to get further and further away from the real premise of the book. He always tries to tie it back to the premise, waiting, but in a much less connected way. At some points in the book I just didn't know if I was listening to the same book anymore.

About what I expected

What did you like best about Wait? What did you like least?

There are many interesting facts spread throughout the book. The subject matter is dry and information I consider pertinent is surrounded by sports analogies and asides.

Would you recommend Wait to your friends? Why or why not?

I would recommend this book to patient readers that are very interested in a long overview of the subject matter.

Any additional comments?

If you like this sort of book I recommend The Shallows, by Nicholas Carr.