Seth Stephens-Davidowitz - Dont Trust Your Gut

Frequently, when I read a book, I read the acknowledgments first. Am I the only one who does this? Anyway, I hope any fellow acknowledgment aficionados enjoy what follows.

My biggest thanks are to the scientists discussed in the book. I thank them both for their work and for talking to me about it. In particular, I benefited from discussions with Albert-Lszl Barabsi, Paul Eastwick, Sam Fraiberger, Samantha Joel, George MacKerron, Alexander Todorov, Danny Yagan, and Eric Zwick.

Some of my interpretations of the work may be a bit different from those of the scientists who conducted the studies; all of the original studies can be found in the endnotes.

For help with gathering data and stories and collaborating on research projects, I thank Anna Gt, Spencer Greenberg, David Kestenbaum, Lou Corina Lacambra, and Bill Mallon.

For offering feedback on sections, I thank Coren Apicella, Sam Asher, Esther Davidowitz, Amanda Gordon, Nate Hilger, Maxim Massenkoff, Aurlie Ouss, Julia Rubalevskaya, John Sillings, Katia Sobolski, Joel Stein, Mitchell Stephens, Lauren Stephens-Davidowitz, Noah Stephens-Davidowitz, Logan Ury, and Jean Yang.

Thanks to Sourav Choudhary and Adam Shapiro for offering me consulting opportunities that came with friendship and gentle nudges to finish my book.

For more new friendships and gentle nudges to finish my book, I thank the Hirsch and Seessel families.

For less-gentle but more effective nudges to finish my book, I thank Matt Harper. Matt is a wonderful editor who had the unenviable task of keeping me focusedand handled it splendidly.

For impeding me from finishing my book with endless memes and ferocious political debate, I thank #YouAreFakeNews.

Melvis Acosta is a rock star fact-checker with an attention to detail that I did not realize was humanly possible. Any remaining errors are likely due to my skipping over one of the items in the pages of notes Melvis sent on every chapter.

Eric Lupfer remains an off-the-charts thoughtful and creative agent.

The research in says that parents can influence how their kids think about them. And I think my parents are the best in the world. So causal outcome achieved, Mom and Dad! I also suspect we are an outlier family in how much you have helped my career.

The research in says that people arent, on average, much happier when spending time with their family. But if Mappiness or another experience sampling service measured my happiness, I am confident that there would be a big boost when I am with Noah, Lauren, Mark, Jonah, Sasha, and the rest of the Stephens-Davidowitz-Osmond-Fryman-Wild-Sklaire clan.

And if Mappiness followed me for the past decade, theyd notice a dramatic change in my mood after working with the worlds greatest therapist, Rick Rubens. Thank you, Rick, for helping me work through my depression.

Julia, thanks for everything. You know I struggle with expressing emotional warmth; but you also know how much I love you.

Everybody Lies

The chart that follows compares the predicted happiness of activities, according to the survey conducted by Spencer Greenberg and me, to the actual rank of activities, as found by Bryson and MacKerron. Activities that have a positive Difference, such as Exhibition/Museum/Library, tend to give people more happiness than people expect. Activities that have a negative Difference, such as Sleeping/Resting/Relaxing, tend to give people less happiness than people expect.

SETH STEPHENS-DAVIDOWITZ is a data scientist, author, and keynote speaker. His 2017 book, Everybody Lies , was a New York Times bestseller and an Economist Book of the Year. He has worked as a contributing op-ed writer for the New York Times , a lecturer at the Wharton School, and a Google data scientist. He received a BA in philosophy from Stanford, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa, and a PhD in economics from Harvard. He lives in Brooklyn and is a passionate fan of the Mets, Knicks, Jets, and Leonard Cohen.

Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com .

Australia

HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty. Ltd.

Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street

Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia

www.harpercollins.com.au

Canada

HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

Bay Adelaide Centre, East Tower

22 Adelaide Street West, 41st Floor

Toronto, Ontario, M5H 4E3

www.harpercollins.ca

India

HarperCollins India

A 75, Sector 57

Noida

Uttar Pradesh 201 301

www.harpercollins.co.in

New Zealand

HarperCollins Publishers New Zealand

Unit D1, 63 Apollo Drive

Rosedale 0632

Auckland, New Zealand

www.harpercollins.co.nz

United Kingdom

HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF, UK

www.harpercollins.co.uk

United States

HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

195 Broadway