In this rather opaque and erudite treatise on decision-making, the Toronto based freelance journalist, who seems to be an exercise guru, and extreme sport devotee discusses the differences between exploration and exploitation with abundant references to historical figures, modern social sciences experiments and neurosciences findings. He clearly is mostly an explorer himself, pushing the limits of physical possibilities in a variety of endeavours.
The well-documented link between having the variant DRD4 gene and the urge to explore and seek new adventures, in multiple species not just in humans, discussed in Chapter 2, raises the age-old issue of whether or not free will exists- are all of our actions and decisions simply the result of chemical and electrical changes in our brains? This is never directly discussed.
Chapter 3 on The Free Energy Principle was the densest and least understandable for this simplistic thinker, but its “slope chasing”, “slope building” and “Wandt curve” concepts in decision- making are referenced repeatedly in the remaining 9 chapters.
Although I found the book a tough read in some places, I appreciated the perspectives he provides, both with respect to historical explorers and present day decision making, and learned a lot.
3.5/5
Thanks, Tony.
The Passionate Reader 