Economists, it is said, suffer from 'physics envy'. Like physicists who model the behaviour of the universe with exactitude through complex mathematical formulations, economists believed that they could model human behaviour with similar exactitude deploying similar complex formulations. Central to this pursuit was the assumption that humans are rational.
But that assumption does not hold. The history of economics is replete with examples of how the discipline has repeatedly been wrong footed in predicting or explaining real world outcomes because a completely rational human being simply does not exist.
This book by Ramasastri and his daughter, Aparajitha, is grounded on that basic understanding. Drawing from their shared interest in probability theory, artificial intelligence, human behaviour and casinos, they focus on how irrational behaviour leads people into flawed decisions in financial markets. Their endeavour is not so much to help the reader play the stock market with greater finesse, but a larger one - of helping the reader understand the roots of irrationality in herself.
That's a daunting challenge. But Ramasastri and Aparajitha approach the task with remarkable aptitude and enthusiasm pulling together concepts and ideas from a variety of disciplines and varied human experiences