I am reading a book on statistics and how items are priced. It's titled Priceless : The Myth of Fair Value. In the book there is alot of research on decision making. A very good read for anyone interested in what drives our decision making process. I think its always good to have a handle on how people make decicions. Could be helpful when dealing with a jury or insurance company.
One thing that always amazed me were percentages. For instance the percentage that you will or will not get in to a plane crash or buy a particular item based on a commercial. Really fascinating stuff.
Here is my favorite percentage story, my son was having surgery on his hand when he was seven years old, this is the verbatim conversation that I had with the doctor and I never thought about percentage the same way since.
Doctor: The broken growth plate will need to be corrected immediately. I would like to do the surgery as soon as possible.
Kim: What are the risks involved with this particular surgery?
Doctor: Well, if the growth plate has been open for too long we may not be able to close it and his finger will not grow anymore from the first knuckle.
Kim: OK well I think he will survive with a short finger.
Doctor: There is always the risk of infection.
Kim: Of course. What exactly is the risk of infection?
Doctor: The risk of developing an infection is less than 1%, unless you get an infection, than its 100%.
Something to think about.
Oh, and my son, he got the infection and spent two weeks in the hospital and three months on intervenous antibiotice delivered through a CAD pump.
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