Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman died on March 27.  He and his colleague, Amos Tversky, published foundational studies in behavioral economics demonstrating that people inevitably have numerous cognitive biases.  They upended dominant theories that people simply act rationally to carefully maximize their self-interest.  In our dispute resolution field, we rely on their insights to help people recognize their biases and make better decisions.  In 2011, Kahneman published the best-selling book, Thinking, Fast and Slow, which chronicled the development of his and Tversky’s ideas.

Michael Lewis published a dual biography of Kahneman and Tversky, The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds.  The book tells the story of an odd couple of psychologists who collaborated intensely for years, then had a painful breakup, and finally reconciled shortly before Tversky’s death.  This post describes Lewis’s book and how the two psychologists created new science.

For more detail about Kahneman’s life, here’s the Washington Post obituary.