Why do doctors, generals, civil servants and others consistently make wrong decisions that cause enormous harm to others? And why do you sit through a boring play just because the tickets were expensive?

Irrational beliefs and behaviours are virtually universal. Not only gamblers and parapsychologists but selection committees and experts often fall into simple statistical traps to do with sample sizes or assuming causal links. In this iconoclastic book Stuart Sutherland analyses causes of irrationality and shows that it is universal. Drawing on a mass of intriguing research, he examines why we are irrational, the different kinds of irrationality, the damage it does us and the possible cures.