This is a _very_ impressive book. I can't imagine a more thorough overview of the study of human judgment, decisionmaking, and rationality. It's hard to find a good single volume in this field. For the psychology of judgment and decisionmaking, there's Scott Plous's excellent book of that title. For the heuristics on which we seem to rely and the biases they seem to generate, there's the modern classic _Judgment Under Uncertainty_ by (the late) Amos Tversky and (recent Nobel prize winner) Daniel Kahneman. And there are other books devoted to special topics and subtopics. But so far as I know, this is the only broad, general introduction to the entire field of thinking, how we do it, how we probably ought to do it, and the sorts of things we do it about. The book is divided into three broad sections. "Thinking In General" covers just that: what thinking is, and the nature of rationality and logic. "Probability and Belief" introduces not only probability theory (including, importantly, Bayes's Theorem) but the various theories about what probability _is_, as well as hypothesis testing, correlation, and "actively open-minded thinking." The largest section, "Decisions and Plans," is eleven chapters long and covers everything else: uncertainty, utility, decision analysis, theories of morality fairness, and justice, and risk. As you might imagine, Baron doesn't leave too many stones unturned. Heck, his bibliography alone is thirty-odd pages long. The book is eminently readable. The third edition is aimed mainly at graduate students but I gather Baron still uses it in his undergraduate courses. If you're a lay reader interested in this field, you'll be able to read it on your own with no difficulty.
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