Eyes Wide Open

In a fast-moving world we’re often overloaded with differing opinions, conflicting data and changing advice. In this essential guide, Noreena Hertz offers practical steps to how to make better, smarter decisions.

Most of us think we make decisions for the right reasons: we scour books, we talk over options with our friends, we search the internet, we ask experts, we look at data or we trust our guts. But how hard do we scrutinise those we listen to? How much do we interrogate the information they provide? Are we open to new ways of tackling problems? Or are we swayed by how we’ve made decisions in the past?

Noreena Hertz reveals the extent to which life-altering, business-affecting, policy-determining, and also health-defining decisions are being made based on partial information, assumed wisdoms, corrupted data and insufficient scrutiny. She provides a clear, practical toolkit for how you can be a smarter decision-maker and better problem-solver. Whether knowing when to trust experts and when to trust the internet or how you can be unconsciously swayed by certain behaviours or phoney stats, this books instructs you how to make better choices and more accurate predictions – through your personal life, your work and all your decisions.

Reviews

‘A practical guide to critical thinking in the digital age that is as useful for students as it is for CEOs … Most books of this type urge us to do what they say and everything will be fine. Hertz’s is an antidote to this kind of thinking.’ Daisy Goodwin, The Sunday Times

‘Hertz is a bestselling author who also advises prime ministers, heads of companies and international organisations such as the World Bank. Her aim is to alert us to myriad ways in which irrational factors influence our decisions.’ Toby Young, Mail on Sunday

‘Noreena Hertz has written perceptive books about the growth of global capitalism and international debt. Now she's turned her attention to the information age with “Eyes Wide Open” … She's right on the money with a directive that we should become 'challengers' of so-called expert advice.’ Janet Street Porter, Independent

‘A brilliant writer … and formidable researcher’ Times Higher Education

‘A brilliant writer … and formidable researcher.’ Times Higher Education Supplement

‘”Eyes Wide Open” is comprehensive – it covers everything from the use and abuse of statistics and numerical techniques (including a depressing reminder that most of our political leaders can barely count) to the need to be qualitative in our decisions.’ Management Today

'A wise, witty and inspirational guide to decision-making' Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of ‘Jerusalem: The Biography’

‘Helps you to survive the digital deluge… It's provocative, helpful and funny’ Martha Lane Fox

‘Provides great insights into how we make decisions and how we should be making them. It brilliantly combines academic research with a very pragmatic and helpful approach’ – Michael Lynton, CEO of Sony Entertainment, Inc.

'Witty, well-researched and practical … an invaluable guide for anyone facing tough decisions in today’s complex world' Dominic Barton, Global CEO of McKinsey & Co.

About the author

Noreena Hertz is a best-selling author and academic, described by The Observer as ‘one of the world’s leading thinkers’. She has provided keynote addresses at TED and the World Economic Forum, advises a range of major corporations and is Associate Director of the Centre for International Business and Management, University of Cambridge.