Farsighted: How We Make the Decisions That Matter The Most

Farsighted: How We Make the Decisions That Matter The Most by Steven Johnson            Audio Book: 6hrs., 30 mins    Paperback Book: 384 pages          

Interesting book.   You will come away from this read having learned to think differently about every decision you make regardless the subject.    Steven Johnson discusses the thought processes that go into decision making – nothing so simple as you may have thought, he goes into the depths of such things as Navy Seal Training and how they decide what actions they will take in any scenario based on every possible outcome they can come up with and it is varied and extensive.     That example alone gives one pause to consider how often we may think on situations we may find ourselves in but to put the time and effort into every possible snare and potential outcome, man, that gives you a totally different perspective on things.    He discusses how Benjamin Franklin always used a Pro and Con list when met with tenacious issues needing to be dealt with.    Charles Darwin used the Pro and Con list when deciding if he should marry or not.   He loved the lady, but, did he actually want to give up his virtually free life to settle down?    He had one issue more in his Pro list when he weighed the values of both sides and he did indeed marry, not as much for the lady as for the anticipated progeny he wanted to leave behind an evolutionist to the end!  The writer, George Elliot who was actually a woman named Mary Anne Evans had to decide whether to live in sin (remember this was the Victorian Era) with the married man she loved or give him up and keep her place in polite society?   Love  won out she decided to go away with him to the Continent passing time with fellow writers, poets and artists in Café’ Society for a time and when they returned he was still married to someone else, they never legally married but Mary Anne began to use his last name and asked that all future correspondence be sent to her as Mary Anne Lewis as though they were married.    She even wrote her sister asking her how she felt about her now as a “married” woman?    Her sister nor her family ever had anything to do with her again, but, Mary Anne exercised her feminism by doing what felt right for her rather than bowing to the standards set by society.     Quite a radical stance for a woman in those days.   Steven Johnson talks about Global Warming and how the decisions or lack of decisions will weigh on society in the long run.   If big business does not adjust and lessen or do away completely with fossil fuels the earth will cease to be as we know it now.   Mass destruction may not come in our lifetimes, but, what about our grandchildren’s lives?    Do we say forget them – each age will do for itself or do world leaders come together to fix the problem now?    Naysayers won’t reap the consequences, but, their descendants will if changes aren’t made to preserve life as we know it.    There are so many other examples of decision making with the future in mind and how humankind needs to always look at the big picture and work out the mathematics of each problem we come up against in order to find the best solution for ourselves and the world we live in.    Very in-depth look at the process of working out our conscious thoughts on all sides of issues to discover or come to a better understanding of best outcome bit by bit until all the possible alternatives or unknowns can be taken into account and given our best surmise to come to our best outcome.    Gosh, this guy is good. And yes, I recommend this book, but, it isn’t light fare so be in a mood to be ready to think because it will definetly spark ideas aplenty for all those nagging either ors we have in our lives.  Good book.