Ben Waber reviewed Look Again by Tali Sharot
A Compelling But Somewhat Flawed Book
4 stars
This book makes a powerful case for the dangers of individual habituation from causing people to poorly estimate risk to creating complacency in poor conditions. Sharot and Sunstein also venture into more societal issues, however, casting problems such as systemic racism in the same bucket. Apart from some questionable examples (not sure why highlighting a book where the author went around in blackface is better than one of the innumerable contemporary books identifying glaring racism), it's unclear if this habituation framing is actually helpful here. I would have liked more introspection in earlier chapters as well, with many of the pandemic habituation examples patently ignoring low income people.
All of that being said, this book does a better job than anything else I've seen at articulating the contours of the serious problem of habituation. Highly recommend
This book makes a powerful case for the dangers of individual habituation from causing people to poorly estimate risk to creating complacency in poor conditions. Sharot and Sunstein also venture into more societal issues, however, casting problems such as systemic racism in the same bucket. Apart from some questionable examples (not sure why highlighting a book where the author went around in blackface is better than one of the innumerable contemporary books identifying glaring racism), it's unclear if this habituation framing is actually helpful here. I would have liked more introspection in earlier chapters as well, with many of the pandemic habituation examples patently ignoring low income people.
All of that being said, this book does a better job than anything else I've seen at articulating the contours of the serious problem of habituation. Highly recommend