Wild Problems: A Guide to the Decisions That Define Us

From the host of EconTalk, a guide to decision-making when you can't crunch the numbers

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. He suggests spending less time and energy on the path that promises the most happiness, and more time on figuring out who you actually want to be. He draws on the experience of great artists, writers, and scientists of the past who found creative ways to navigate life's biggest questions. And he lays out strategies for reducing the fear and the loss of control that inevitably come when a wild problem requires a leap in the dark.

Ultimately, Roberts asks us to see ourselves and our lives less as a problem to be solved than a mystery to be experienced. There's no right decision waiting to be uncovered by an app or rational analysis. Reality is harder than that and, perhaps, a little more interesting.

ISBN-13: 9780593418253

Media Type: Hardcover

Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group

Publication Date: 08-09-2022

Pages: 224

Product Dimensions: 8.10(w) x 5.50(h) x 0.90(d)

Russ Roberts is the president of Shalem College in Jerusalem and the John and Jean De Nault Research Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. He hosts the award-winning weekly podcast EconTalk, in which he distills economic concepts with guests such as Michael Lewis, Jill Lepore, Angela Duckworth, Christopher Hitchens, and Nassim Nicholas Taleb. He is the author of five books, including Gambling with Other People’s Money and How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life, and cocreator of the Keynes-Hayek rap videos, which have been viewed more than 12 million times on YouTube. He received his PhD from the University of Chicago.

Table of Contents

1 Wild Problems 1

2 Darwin's Dilemma 9

3 In the Dark 21

4 This Is Serious 41

5 The Pig and the Philosopher 55

6 Flourishing Matters 69

7 Penelope's Problem 89

8 How to Get Over Yourself 115

9 Privilege Your Principles 133

10 Be Like Bill 157

11 Live Like an Artist 171

12 Summing Up 185

Acknowledgments 193

Sources and Further Reading 199

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