Overview

""You need to read this book."" --Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author ""A great book changes the world you live in, revealing mysteries you didn't even know were there. This is a great book."" --Sendhil Mullainathan, MacArthur fellow and author of Scarcity Blending behavioral science and design, Leidy Klotz's Subtract offers a scientific appreciation of why we underuse subtraction--and how to access its untapped potential. We pile on ""to-dos"" but don't consider ""stop-doings."" We create incentives for good behavior, but don't get rid of obstacles to it. We collect new-and-improved ideas, but don't prune the outdated ones. Every day, across challenges big and small, we neglect a basic way to make things better: we don't subtract. Klotz's pioneering research shows us what is true whether we're building Lego models, cities, grilled-cheese sandwiches, or strategic plans: Our minds tend to add before taking away, and this is holding us back. But we have a choice--our blind spot need not go on taking its toll. Subtract arms us with the science of less and empowers us to revolutionize our day-to-day lives and shift how we move through the world. More or less.

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9781250249876

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Reviews

A good book whisks you on a journey to foreign lands filled with exotic ideas and captivating stories. A great book changes the world you live in, pulling back the curtain to reveal mysteries you didn't even know were there. This is a great book. Anyone who has interest in understanding their lives better--and who doesn't--should read it.--Sendhil Mullainathan, MacArthur fellow and author of Scarcity Leidy Klotz leads the reader on an intellectual journey as he explores the fascinating question: In designing our world, why do we always seem to add rather than subtract? Subtract is a great blend of academic research, stories, and practical tools. Enjoy the journey! --Dan Heath, co-author of Made to Stick and author of Upstream Behavioral science at its best helps people to improve their lives. It may help them think about old things in new ways or add new and better habits. In Subtract, Leidy Klotz shows us how deleting things from our lives can lead us to exciting new places. --Carol Dweck, author of Mindset Subtract is simply brilliant. With engaging and moving prose, Leidy Klotz travels back and forth between kids' toys, evolution, Dr. Seuss, anthropology, racism, cognitive psychology, urban planning, global warming, and architecture to teach us that often, the best way to solve problems is by taking things away--by subtracting. To learn how to subtract, you must first add Subtract to your reading list. --Barry Schwartz, author of The Paradox of Choice and Why We Work There could be no more important time to read this well-researched book, when so much needs subtracting: the prejudices, norms, and rules that perpetuate structural racism in our country; the mindless consumption that puts us on the hedonic treadmill and destroys biodiversity and a livable climate on our planet. --Elke Weber, Gerhard R. Andlinger Professor in Energy and the Environment This is a captivating, perceptive read on one of the most basic mistakes that we make in the pursuit of success and happiness. Combining his expertise in architectural engineering and behavioral science, Leidy Klotz pinpoints a gaping hole in our mental math: we're constantly adding tasks, commitments, and possessions to our lives while neglecting to subtract any. If the defining word of your life is 'more, ' you need to read this book. --Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of THINK AGAIN and ORIGINALS, and host of the TED podcast WorkLife The heart of Leidy Klotz's SUBTRACT is a brilliant catch-all philosophy for living well: humans are predisposed to add--money, ideas, inventions, possessions, complexity--but the route to well-being is to take away. Subtraction doesn't require you to be rich, or to have superhuman self-control, or plenty of free time. All you need is the right attitude, and a toolbox that will help you learn you to subtract effectively. SUBTRACT is that toolbox. --Adam Alter, New York Times bestselling author of IRRESISTIBLE and DRUNK TANK PINK An engaging style and breadth of examples that guides the reader through an important new view of thinking by removing. --Eric J. Johnson, author of The Elements of Choice

Author Information

Leidy Klotz studies and writes about how we transform things from how they are to how we want them to be. His research on the science of problem-solving has appeared in both Nature and Science and has been covered in The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post among national newspapers on five continents. A professor at the University of Virginia, Leidy has authored more than 80 original research articles and writes on applications of his research for design, art, parenting, personal finance, climate change and many other fields.

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