Wild Problems is a powerful guide to a more meaningful life.
Author of Range
Wild Problems
A Guide to the Decisions That Define Us
Algorithms and apps analyze data and tell you how to beat the traffic, what books to buy, what music to listen to, and even who to date—often with great results. But what do you do when you face the big decisions of life—the "wild problems" of who to marry, whether to have children, where to move, how to forge a life well-lived—that can’t be solved by measurement or calculation? In Wild Problems, beloved host of EconTalk Russ Roberts offers puzzled rationalists a way to address these wild problems.
This excellent book won’t make your decisions for you. Instead, it will do something more powerful: help you think about your most important decisions in a completely new light.
Author of Expecting Better
Life’s biggest decisions hide unknown costs and benefits. In Wild Problems, Roberts not only exposes this tricky predicament, he also shows readers how to confidently engage these decisions and truly flourish regardless.
Miller’s Book Review
Roberts’s thought-provoking take on the limits of data and the overquantification of contemporary life provides a bold and original perspective on how humans can make better decisions. Daniel Kahneman’s fans will find much to ponder.
An interesting and useful book. The ‘wild problems’ it explains how to solve include the biggest ones you’ll face in your life.
Founder of Y Combinator
A beautiful meditation on big life choices, gently reminding us of the limits of narrow cost-benefit reasoning and presenting an alternative approach to human flourishing.
Author of Grit
“In a world in which we are drowning in data, what’s really needed is more wisdom. We need the judgment to interpret data, and sound principles for navigating life. Enter “Wild Problems: A Guide to the Decisions That Define Us,” Russ Roberts’s book on life’s big decisions…Mr. Roberts’s argument more broadly echoes a growing sentiment in psychology and economics: We are more than pleasure-seeking algorithms.”
WSJ
One of the most interesting and worthwhile books I’ve read in a long time.
Director of Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies
I’ve learned more about economics and economic reasoning from Russ Roberts than from all other sources combined. I am delighted to find out in this book that Roberts is also a source about the limits of economic reasoning when it comes to existential decisions.
Author of of The Black Swan
“Wild Problems fits into the tradition of economists critiquing economics, with the aim not to delegitimize it or denigrate it but to improve it.”
National Review
The Tim Ferriss Show Podcast
Russ Roberts on Lessons from F.A. Hayek and Nassim Taleb, Decision-Making Insights from Charles Darwin, The Dangers of Scientism, Wild…
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Art of Manliness: Grappling With Life’s “Wild Problems”
As an economist, Russ Roberts has been taught to approach decision-making by conducting an analysis, weighing tradeoffs, and then rationally…
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Making Human Decisions in the Age of AI (Federalist Radio Hour)
On this episode of The Federalist Radio Hour, Russ Roberts, the John and Jean De Nault research fellow at the…
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Dialogue with Russ Roberts
This episode features Sean Speer in conversation with Russ Roberts, the host of the weekly podcast EconTalk, about his thoughtful,…
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The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg: Free to Choose
What constitutes a life well lived, and what does it mean to truly flourish? Noted economist Russ Roberts provides answers…
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