Book SummarySeeking Wisdom, by Peter Bevelin

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Seeking Wisdom

Have you ever reflected on one of your past mistakes and wondered, “What was I thinking?” In Seeking Wisdom, Peter Bevelin claims that we make significant errors because we tend to think irrationally. He argues that, fortunately, we can avoid major errors by following the wisdom of some of the world’s most rational thinkers. In his book, he collects advice on rational thinking from experts in math, science, business, and philosophy.

Bevelin is a Swedish investor and author of four books that compile the knowledge of some of the world’s best-known thinkers. In Seeking Wisdom, Bevelin emphasizes how famous thinkers’ wisdom relates to business and investing....

Seeking Wisdom Summary Comparing Irrational and Rational Thinking

Bevelin argues that most of our major errors result from irrational thinking, and we can avoid these errors by engaging in rational thinking. When we’re irrational, we base our decisions on our emotion-fueled, biased assumptions rather than on facts. By contrast, when we’re rational, we override our emotions and biases by logically considering factual evidence.

(Shortform note: While Bevelin asserts that emotions interfere with wise, rational thinking, some psychologists offer the counterpoint that emotions can benefit your decision-making process in a number of ways. First, emotions can motivate you to make important decisions in the first place. For instance, your anger about an injustice may drive you to run for public office so that you can address the injustice. Second, some emotions can actually make your decisions less biased and therefore more rational. For example, research suggests that gratitude counteracts your discount rate bias: a cognitive bias that causes you to value instant gratification over long-term rewards.)

Furthermore, Bevelin claims that **we should learn rational...

Seeking Wisdom Summary Origin 1: Evolutionary Mismatch

According to Bevelin, the first reason why we make irrational errors is that our brains evolved to support our survival as hunter-gatherers—not our survival in modern life. There’s a mismatch between how our brains are wired to problem-solve and the types of problems we face today.

(Shortform note: Over the past several decades, popular science authors have used the idea of evolutionary mismatch to convince people to change their behavior and lifestyle. These authors typically fall into one of two camps. There are those who, like Bevelin, claim that our minds are the problem. These authors contend that our hunter-gatherer brains are outdated, and we need to improve our thinking strategies to better meet the demands of modern life. By contrast, some authors don’t think our minds are flawed—they think our modern environment is. Writers from this camp advocate bringing aspects of our ancestral lifestyle back into our lives, such as [eating a Paleo...

Seeking Wisdom Summary Origin 2: Failure to Understand and Apply Scientific Concepts

According to Bevelin, the second reason why we make irrational errors is that we fail to understand scientific concepts and apply those concepts to our decisions. In this section, we’ll share wisdom from math and physics that can help you think more rationally. We’ve organized these ideas into two themes: concepts that relate to interpreting evidence, and concepts that relate to systems thinking.

(Shortform note: Although Bevelin describes our failure to understand science as an origin of our errors that’s separate from our evolutionary mismatch, these two origins may be linked. In The Art of Thinking Clearly, Rolf Dobelli argues that our hunter-gatherer minds didn’t evolve to do complex math (which serves as the foundation for many scientific concepts as well). He explains that our ancestors mostly did linear math problems, such as simple addition and multiplication problems. By contrast, modern life requires us to engage in more complex, exponential math, such as...

Shortform Exercise: Learn From a Past Mistake

In Seeking Wisdom, Peter Bevelin emphasizes how rational thinking can help you avoid major errors and improve your life. Take some time to reflect on a past mistake you made and craft a plan to avoid similar mistakes in the future.

First, describe a major mistake you made in the past due to irrational thinking. (For instance, perhaps you made the impulsive decision to quit your new job after only a week. Now, you regret that decision and wish you’d given the job more of a chance.)