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William Poundstone

About

William Poundstone is the best-selling author of fourteen books. His Fortune's Formula was Amazon Editors' Pick for #1 nonfiction book of 2005. Poundstone has written for The New York Times book review and op-ed page, the Village Voice, Esquire, Harpers, The Believer, The Economist, and Harvard Business Review. He has appeared on the Today Show, David Letterman, CBS Morning News, Larry King, and hundreds of radio talk shows throughout the world. Poundstone was writer and co-producer of two primetime ABC-TV specials based on his books.

Born in Morgantown, West Virginia, Poundstone studied physics at MIT under a National Merit Scholarship. Many of his writings concern the social impact of scientific ideas. In his blog Priceless and the accompanying book, Poundstone will examine the hidden psychology of prices: how we determine a "fair deal" in the supermarket, the boardroom, or anywhere else. "Some of the most important psychology of the past fifty years deals with how we make decisions," Poundstone explains. "Those findings are now beginning to be applied to the kind of price decisions we make every day. We're always asking ourselves, ‘is that too much to pay?' It turns out that this common decision can be influenced by all sorts of subtle psychological tricks. The science is affecting the design of price tags, menus, rebates, ‘sale' ads, cell-phone plans, infomercials, tort demands, and corporate buyouts. In a lot of ways, prices are the most pervasive hidden persuaders of all."

He lives in Los Angeles.

Books by William Poundstone
Recent Posts
Why AI Lies
Chatbots can produce untruths, math errors, and complete fabrications known as hallucinations. The problem is not easily remedied, as truth is contextual.
Reality Catches Up to the Turing Test
Alan Turing proposed conversational ability as a test of computer intelligence. Today’s chatbots have the gift of gab, but also show the fallibility of the Turing test.
Horse Sense About AI
The “Clever Hans effect” is the tendency to attribute human intelligence to animals. It may affect our experiences with AI chatbots, too.
A Better Way to Hire

Can hiring eliminate structural bias? Games that job-seekers play on their phones may be part of the answer.

Can hiring eliminate structural bias? Games that job-seekers play on their phones may be part of the answer.

The Dunning-Kruger President

The Internet is calling Donald Trump the Dunning-Kruger President. Here's the research behind the term.

The Internet is calling Donald Trump the Dunning-Kruger President. Here's the research behind the term.

A Brief History of Fake News

Mark Zuckerberg wants to get fake news off Facebook, but it won't be easy. "Obviously a joke" is in the eye of the beholder.

Mark Zuckerberg wants to get fake news off Facebook, but it won't be easy. "Obviously a joke" is in the eye of the beholder.

Four Words Americans Don't Understand

Eighty percent of the public hasn't a clue what a PPO is. But there's a way to make health insurance policies simpler.

Eighty percent of the public hasn't a clue what a PPO is. But there's a way to make health insurance policies simpler.

Peace Through Ignorance?

Americans don't know much geography, and maybe that's a good thing, suggests Presidential candidate Gary Johnson.

Americans don't know much geography, and maybe that's a good thing, suggests Presidential candidate Gary Johnson.

Taste Freeze

Mom jeans, dad bod, and taste freeze? Data show that we stop listening to new pop music after the age of 33.

Mom jeans, dad bod, and taste freeze? Data show that we stop listening to new pop music after the age of 33.