irst drafts of seven children's books in seven days are complete. The books arebased on the findings of a cognitive psychology study (previously cited) that I believe has the potential to improve financial decision making through better awareness of common biases we unconsciously employ daily.
The findings I chose to focus on pertain to biases of availability (the ease with which examples of the event come to mind), hindsight biases after Black Swans (eg, banning box-cutters on planes after 9/11), motivation to prevent Black Swans, the conjunction fallacy (people tend to think a story more probable with each bit of additional detail it has than less probable), and "anchoring, adjustment and contamination" (eg, deciding to buy one item at the store not ten of that item because there's a special or the store is about to close) - among others.
The seven books will sit on ice for a month then I'll look at them again with fresh eyes and work them over a second time. And then a third before submitting them to peer review and the harshest critics - kids.
Writing these books as 16 rhyming couplets forced me to keep them lean and to keep the action up. Originally, I thought writing in this fashion would lead to more dumbed down material with a watered-down story, but I think I've avoided that by keeping the stories in line.
On Deck: While I prefer writing about baseball during the off-season, I've challenged myself to finish a draft of The Boston Squeeze by the end of this calendar year. Batter up.
Writing these books as 16 rhyming couplets forced me to keep them lean and to keep the action up. Originally, I thought writing in this fashion would lead to more dumbed down material with a watered-down story, but I think I've avoided that by keeping the stories in line.
On Deck: While I prefer writing about baseball during the off-season, I've challenged myself to finish a draft of The Boston Squeeze by the end of this calendar year. Batter up.
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