b.cognosco

I intend this website to be a tool to help myself and others learn how to make better decisions. There's a philosophy behind the site that I began to document in The Project, but its an unfinished work.

About a year ago, through some contacts at my work, I started exploring Decision Theory.

By the way, I tend to talk about Decision Theory, the abstract concepts of deciding rather than Decision Analysis, which generally refers to a more applied field of analyzing situations.

To start, I recommend two books which were my start, Making Hard Decisions by Clemens and Thinking and Deciding by Baron. Both are very readable college/graduate level textbooks that will take you through the field.

After that, the kind of problems you face will dictate what kind of tools you need.

James showed up in my referrer logs, but let's not confuse this with one of those "you link to me, I link to you" return-the-favor things. Far from it. Where am I ever going to cross paths with a Baltimore-based clinical research director, or hobnob with faculty at Johns Hopkins? I'm not. Not through any normal channels.

This is one more example of the weblog phenomenon blasting away the barriers to discourse and knowledge sharing. Already in my brief blogging career I have shared conversations with men and women of exceptional intellect and accomplishment, people whose understanding and knowledge far outstrip my own. If I can give back but a tenth of what I gain, this weblog will be a success.