Hodder acquires behavioural economist's decision-making guides

Hodder & Stoughton has acquired two works from behavioural economist Dr Sheheryar Banuri about making decisions.

The first, Good Decisions for Strange Situations, is a digital short on how to make difficult choices in a crisis, publishing in audio and e-book on 7th May 2020.

This will be followed by the publication of The Decisive Mind, a smart thinking book on how to make decisions, publishing in hardback and audiobook in autumn 2021. Editorial director Harriet Poland bought world rights from Jack Ramm at Ramm Studios.   

Good Decisions for Strange Situations "will help people make decisions during this, and any, crisis", pitches Hodder. "By revisiting disasters of the past and explaining the processes of our instinctive mind, this short book will reveal why it’s so hard to know what to do in a crisis, and help listeners and readers make the right choices, at the right time, for the right reason."

The Decisive Mind meanwhile uses behavioural science to help readers understand and improve their decision making. The author will introduce an original decision-making system to illuminate why we make the decisions we do, from the ones we struggle with to the ones we should probably be giving more thought to. According to Hodder the book "will help readers better understand their motives and structure their rewards to make the right decisions, using behavioural concepts and a framework of four decision types. The reader will come away better understanding their motives, and able to make the best choice every time." 

Dr Banuri is a behavioural economist and associate professor at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, who previously worked at the World Bank. He commented: "We all make decisions, all the time. Some are good for us, some are bad for us, but they are all made for a reason. I am delighted to be working with Harriet Poland and Jack Ramm on these projects, which both seek to explain why we make decisions in the way that we do. Armed with this knowledge, we can improve our decisions considerably, so that most decisions are good for us, in both normal, and strange, situations."

Poland said: "Dr Banuri has created a framework for decision making that is both completely fascinating and crystal clear. This book will illuminate the how and why of the choices we make while helping us to improve our decision-making faculties. I’m thrilled to be publishing this guide to an essential part of our day-to-day psychology; and particularly proud to offer a digital short that might offer insight in this confusing time."