Summer Choice Reads 2023 — BIG Difference BC

As the warm rays of the sun illuminate lazy afternoons and gentle breezes caress our skin, summer arrives with promises of adventure and relaxation. Amidst this season of leisure, there could be no better companion than a captivating read or listening. Whether lounging by the beach or nestling in a backyard hammock, reading or listening to a podcast can allow us to disconnect from the frenetic rhythm of daily life. We hope the below suggestions will not only do that, but also teach you useful and/or interesting things about human behaviour.

Enjoy!

Reads suggested by our community

Your Future Self: How to Make Tomorrow Better Today by Hal Hershfield

“This is at the top of my summer reads list because Hal does fascinating research about our current vs. future selves and how connecting the two can help us live better lives. I’m pretty sure my future self will thank my past self for reading!” - Kirstin Appelt, Research Director, UBC Decision Insights for Business & Society (UBC-DIBS)

Psych: The Story of the Human Mind by Paul Bloom

“I’m looking forward to reading this because Paul is an engaging author who is able to guide people through complex topics. The book dives into the mysteries of human psychology and captures the complexity and nuance of the latest research on why people think, feel, and do what they do.” - Lindsay Miles-Pickup, A/Lead, BC Behavioural Insights Group (BC BIG)

Behavioral Science in the Wild Edited by Nina Mazar and Dillip Soman

“I am a little biased, but this book is a nice overview of the state of the field (focusing on field studies) and it covers a variety of topics from sustainability to equity and inclusion to health.” - Kate White, Senior Associate Dean, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Sustainability, UBC Sauder School of Business, and UBC-DIBS Founding Member

Upstream: The Quest to Solve Problems Before They Happen by Dan Heath

“The book talks about topics like ‘problem blindness’ and ‘tunnelling’. Dan also focuses on shifting our downstream mindset of problem solving (solving problems as and when they arise) to an upstream mindset (finding & addressing the root cause of the problem).” - Simran Kaur, Graduate Co-op Student, BC BIG

Anatomy of a Breakthrough by Adam Alter

“Lately I’ve been obsessing over the idea of time well spent and how to achieve more of that for myself. I heard Adam Alter speak about feeling stuck (read: wasting time) and knew I needed to read this. ‘A groundbreaking guide to breaking free from the thoughts, habits, jobs, relationships, and even business models that prevent us from achieving our full potential,’ I think this has a lot to offer most readers. Won’t you read along?” - Steph Wilkie, Knowledge Translation Strategist, BC BIG

Calling DIBS Episode 63: Searching for Positive Spillover

“Host, Kirstin Appelt and guest, Jiaying Zhao (JZ) discuss the recent debate surrounding the i-frame vs the s-frame. JZ makes some interesting points about how i-frame interventions have been shown to have positive spillover on s-frames.
It’s important to remember that spillover effects are not always negative; there can be positive spillover effects too!” - Carl Jensen, Project Director, BC BIG

Data Falsificada (Part 1): “Clusterfake” & (Part 2): “My Class Year Is Harvard” by Uri Simonsohn, Leif Nelson and Joe Simmons on Data Colada

“The Data Colada team investigates potential instances of bad data practices in the behavioural and decision sciences. In this series of posts, they explain the extensive evidence of data fraud in the work of Francesca Gino, including in the infamous paper that claimed that signing at the top of a form reduced dishonesty.” - Dave Hardisty, Associate Professor of Marketing and Behavioural Science, UBC Sauder School of Business, and UBC-DIBS Founding Member