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How to Decide: Simple Tools for Making Better Choices Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Annie Duke (Author, Narrator), Penguin Audio (Publisher)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 1,049 ratings
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Through a blend of compelling exercises and stories, the best-selling author of Thinking in Bets will train you to combat your own biases, address your weaknesses, and help you become a better and more confident decision-maker.

What do you do when you're faced with a big decision? If you're like most people, you probably make a pro and con list, spend a lot of time obsessing about decisions that didn't work out, get caught in analysis paralysis, endlessly seek other people's opinions to find just that little bit of extra information that might make you sure, and finally go with your gut.

What if there was a better way to make quality decisions so you can think clearly, feel more confident, second-guess yourself less, and ultimately be more decisive and be more productive?

Making good decisions doesn't have to be a series of endless guesswork. Rather, it's a teachable skill that anyone can sharpen. In How to Decide, best-selling author Annie Duke and former professional poker player lays out a series of tools anyone can use to make better decisions. You'll learn:

  • To identify and dismantle hidden biases.
  • To extract the highest quality feedback from those whose advice you seek.
  • To more accurately identify the influence of luck in the outcome of your decisions.
  • When to decide fast, when to decide slow, and when to decide in advance.
  • To make decisions that more effectively help you to realize your goals and live your values.

Through interactive exercises and engaging thought experiments, this audiobook helps you analyze key decisions you've made in the past and troubleshoot those you're making in the future. Whether you're picking investments, evaluating a job offer, or trying to figure out your romantic life, How to Decide is the key to happier outcomes and fewer regrets.

This audiobook includes a downloadable PDF of interactive exercises and engaging thought experiments.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

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  1. Listening Length
    6 hours and 39 minutes
  2. Author
    Annie Duke
  3. Narrator
    Annie Duke
  4. Audible release date
    October 13, 2020
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Penguin Audio
  7. ASIN
    B088P4XLVB
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
  10. See all details
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Product details

Listening Length 6 hours and 39 minutes
Author Annie Duke
Narrator Annie Duke
Audible.com Release Date October 13, 2020
Publisher Penguin Audio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B088P4XLVB
Best Sellers Rank #6,782 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#29 in Business Decision Making & Problem Solving
#32 in Medical Cognitive Psychology
#61 in Cognitive Psychology (Books)

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
1,049 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book provides practical advice on making good decisions. They find the concepts approachable and the guide helpful. The book is described as a fun, enjoyable read with clear writing and examples that make sense. Readers appreciate the relatable humor and find the writing entertaining.

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AdviceReadabilityWriting qualityHumor
32 customers mention "Advice"30 positive2 negative

Customers find the book provides practical advice on making good decisions. They say it's a helpful guide with tactics and approaches to problem-solving. The concepts are approachable, and the book provides a step-by-step guide to thoughtful decision making. Readers find valuable lessons to put into practice and say it provides a toolset for how to approach decision making.

"The process laid out non only leads to better decisions but to an awareness and understanding of our own weaknesses...." Read more

"Easy to read, good examples, very practical. Not the most “fun” read but definitely worthwhile nonetheless...." Read more

"There is no hardest task in life that taking desicions. Sometimes it seems that it is impissible to hold the reins of our life...." Read more

"...I even enjoyed the acknowledgments - seemed to have more life than most. The footnotes and bibliography are also very useful & informative...." Read more

18 customers mention "Readability"18 positive0 negative

Customers find the book easy to read and enjoyable. It provides practical ideas and tools.

"...Not the most “fun” read but definitely worthwhile nonetheless. Will definitely be using it as a reference for future decision making." Read more

"...It is really worth to read." Read more

"...She writes clearly, provides important ideas, recommendations, along with the tools to implement all of it...." Read more

"...This book is fun with relatable and amusing examples (loved the "Dr. Evil on 4th Down" section referring to NFL coaches' dilemma)...." Read more

8 customers mention "Writing quality"8 positive0 negative

Customers find the book easy to read and well-written. They appreciate the clear writing style, structure, and practical tools provided.

"Easy to read, good examples, very practical. Not the most “fun” read but definitely worthwhile nonetheless...." Read more

"Annie Duke knows her stuff. She writes clearly, provides important ideas, recommendations, along with the tools to implement all of it...." Read more

"...And, when I did, the text started making sense. Just like working math or physics...." Read more

"...It’s easy to read and well written. It is useful as a read and a reference. It’s very practical and does not make extravagant claims...." Read more

3 customers mention "Humor"3 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the humor in the book. They find the examples relatable and amusing.

"...This author is extremely talented - and entertaining. I even enjoyed the acknowledgments - seemed to have more life than most...." Read more

"...This book is fun with relatable and amusing examples (loved the "Dr. Evil on 4th Down" section referring to NFL coaches' dilemma)...." Read more

"...making, and she’s illustrated it with vivid and sometimes hilarious anecdotes from her own one-of-a-kind life...." Read more

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Brendan M Lawler
    5.0 out of 5 stars simple and effective
    Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    The process laid out non only leads to better decisions but to an awareness and understanding of our own weaknesses. All of these things together help make us better at all we do.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Daniel Yi
    4.0 out of 5 stars Succinct and practical
    Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    Easy to read, good examples, very practical. Not the most “fun” read but definitely worthwhile nonetheless. Will definitely be using it as a reference for future decision making.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Jose Diaz Suarez
    5.0 out of 5 stars realmente useful
    Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    There is no hardest task in life that taking desicions. Sometimes it seems that it is impissible to hold the reins of our life. This book is a valuable tool to help with this responsibility. It is really worth to read.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Mike Stewart
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Read -- Great Clarity -- Superb Tools -- Outstanding Suggestions
    Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    Annie Duke knows her stuff. She writes clearly, provides important ideas, recommendations, along with the tools to implement all of it.
    My favorite is the use of a journal. Unless you make a contemporary record of your reasons & thoughts leading up to and at the time of a decision, you cannot (at least I cannot) rely on memory well after the fact.
    Another useful tool she illustrates is the use of bounding, using the process of getting to a rough estimate of the weight of a bison in a photo.
    This author is extremely talented - and entertaining.
    I even enjoyed the acknowledgments - seemed to have more life than most. The footnotes and bibliography are also very useful & informative.
    So there are 3 things I'd like Ms Duke to consider:
    1. Flash Cards for the definitions in the book.
    2. A laminated outline similar to BarCharts Quick Study series
    3. Finally - I want to know the alternative titles suggested by Prof Kahneman!
    13 people found this helpful
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  • divide
    3.0 out of 5 stars Helpful decision frameworks but don’t need a book to explain it
    Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    Plenty of actionable decision frameworks. Talks about the role of cognitive biases in decision making and how to mitigate them. But I think a few long formed blog posts would suffice in explaining the core concepts
    9 people found this helpful
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  • kkschnabe
    5.0 out of 5 stars The "Self-Help" Book Everyone Should Have
    Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    Even though this book is in the Management & Leadership Category, to me this in the "self-help" book everyone should buy in paperback and work through. If only this book had been around when I was choosing a major in college, deciding whether to go to Europe or get a condo, and making major career choices.

    This book is fun with relatable and amusing examples (loved the "Dr. Evil on 4th Down" section referring to NFL coaches' dilemma). If you want to get the most out of it, you will have to do some hard work: looking at past life decisions that didn't end up well. On the other side of your introspection, you may find that the bad decisions weren't entirely your fault (whew!), and nor were the great decisions all to your credit (ah well!).

    This book will question a lot of your assumptions, and that's a good thing. You'll find that simply creating a pro-con list to make a big life decision is not a robust enough tool when what you really need to do is get out this book and examine the decision more thoroughly. Who doesn't want to make better decisions?

    My only wish for improvement is to add an index because I'll be referring to this book often.
    8 people found this helpful
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  • Mark
    4.0 out of 5 stars How to better analyze your decision-making process.
    Reviewed in the United States on May 20, 2022
    Verified Purchase
    Annie makes a point of knowing the difference between low-impact and high-impact decisions.
    Annie cautions to Beware Hindsight Bias, as this assessment is based entirely on the decision’s outcome. It says little about the decision itself.
    & since we often forget the process that went into a decision, but we usually remember the result, most people miss the value of learning from those experiences. Annie emphasizes that it is always a mistake use the quality of a result to assess the quality of a decision. & further, it is a mistake not to consider the role of luck. In psychology, it’s also known as outcome bias. Annie calls this "Resulting" & warns that it leads to repeating the same errors or faulty decisions because we’re not assessing the decision-making process at all. We’re only looking at the outcome.

    Obviously, if we want to learn from our decisions, misremembering the facts after the outcome only confuses us on how we made the decision in the first place. Commonly, Hindsight bias had us convince ourselves that an outcome was obvious or predictable, but outcomes are very rarely inevitable.
    Also known as "creeping determinism" , the way we retrospectively understand our decisions is usually
    a distoeted & revised recollection of what we knew when the decision was made.

    Annie's antidote is to use a
    KNOWLEDGE TRACKER:
    You can’t learn from your decisions if you don’t gather sufficient data about them.
    Annie instructs us to document the information & logic of a decision as it is being made. Then to go back after the outcome & analyze what happened.
    By comparing this before-and-after knowledge, seeing what was missed or miscalculated. Gathering the data for many decisions, will reveal patterns. Eventually you can develop a sense of the common flags of biases signs and learn to spot them in real time.

    Assess your level of certainty:
    "Will" = 90-95% certain
    " more likely than not" just means greater than 50 percent certainty.
    " could happen" means 20%
    After you establish upper and lower constraints use something called a "shock test" --> ask yourself if you’d be shocked if your expected outcome ended up outside of this range.

    Some of these low-impact decisions qualify as freerolls – the drawbacks are few, but potential benefits are plentiful. You have nothing to lose, and won’t be any worse off afterward if things don’t work out.

    If a decision is High-Impact, Annie has a six-step method to reduce bias and make higher quality decisions.

    1.) List a realistic selection of potential outcomes.
    2.) identify the upsides and downsides of each particular outcome.
    3.) Estimate & quantify how likely each outcome is.
    4.) compare the probability of each outcome you like with those you dislike.
    5.) repeat the first four steps for all other considerations.
    6.) compare the preferences, payoffs, and probabilities of each option & decide

    We tend not to question our own beliefs since we collapse our identity with them. Questioning our beliefs means they could be wrong and therefore occur as a threat to our sense of self. Therefore we frequently refuse to acknowledge any bit of reality which is contradictory.

    Annie suggests using a "PERSPECTIVE TRACKER":
    An accurate perspective comes from a blend of outside view and inside view. Our inside view is the world from our perspective, according to our intuition, and beliefs. The outside view, is the world as others perceive it.
    If you want an honest response when soliciting feedback, don’t disclose your own opinion first. The author describes this as quarantining your beliefs to avoid infecting others with your contagious opinion. Psychologists know this as the framing effect, a cognitive bias that occurs when the order in which information is introduced influences the way we, the recipient, interpret and judge that information.
    In group meeting allow everyone to turn in independent opinions first, then discuss.

    Rather than positive thinking, diligently identifying obstacles to a potential outcome can help you avoid them in the first place. Psychologist Gary Klein calls this a " premortem". This requires you to generate reasons for why a particular goal fails before it even begins.
    20 people found this helpful
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  • Rob Kirk
    5.0 out of 5 stars Incredibly interesting and useful book
    Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    I've read a few works from Annie Duke and her writing style and philosophy absolutely resonates with me. This book was fantastic and one to be read a few times. Actually, not read, but used. The end of the book has all her models that she uses to come up with better decision making and I look forward to using them. I can't recommend this book enough, it's great.
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Ingrid
    4.0 out of 5 stars El jardin de las mariposas
    Reviewed in Mexico on October 22, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    Buen libro, con ejercicios incluidos, te ayuda con decisiones a largo plazo
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  • Cliente Kindle
    2.0 out of 5 stars Expected more
    Reviewed in Brazil on November 26, 2022
    Verified Purchase
    As a background, I read thinking in bet from the same author. For How to decide, I found it very basic. In my opinion, this book could be gathered in 10 pages. There is a lot of "silly" examples.
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  • Margaret
    5.0 out of 5 stars More to decision making than feels
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 4, 2025
    Verified Purchase
    Good read, well written. Thought provoking and explains how making decisions can be improved on. Would recommend. Enjoying it so far and should be applied widely in learning settings.
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  • Kindle Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars An awesome Book best I ever read
    Reviewed in India on November 26, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    Thank You Annie, for writing such a wonderful book, it's detailed explanation on how a decision can be made changed my thoughts process entirely.

    Ita a Must Studied book as a Part of educational syllabus.
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  • Ara Mamourian
    4.0 out of 5 stars Solid read
    Reviewed in Canada on March 14, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    Decent read. Some of it is pretty basic but overall solid book that focuses on the decision making process not the results
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