In a rare attempt to understand the Indianness of Indians—among the most intelligent people in the world; but also; to a dispassionate eye; perhaps the most baffling—V. Raghunathan uses the props of game theory and behavioural economics to provide an insight into the difficult conundrum of why we are the way we are.
He puts under the scanner our attitudes towards rationality and irrationality; selflessness and selfishness; competition and cooperation; and collaboration and deception.
Drawing examples from the way we behave in day-to-day situations; Games Indians Play tries to show how in the long run each one of us—whether businessmen; politicians; bureaucrats; or just plain us—stand to profit more if we were to assume a little self-regulation; give fairness a chance and strive to cooperate and collaborate a little more even if self-interest were to be our main driving force.
India is blessed with many intelligent minds.
Most Indians are more adept at maths and logic than people around the globe.
However, as a nation, we are still falling behind.
Our collective naiveté might be to blame, but how is it that we boast equal parts intelligence and naiveté?
In this book, the writer explains that Indians mistake talk for action. He tries to help readers understand why this happens and how we can change this.
He uses game theory to explain the behaviour of Indians and tries to combine these explanations with concepts of behavioural economics.
The author also presents his twelve points on the fallacies of Indians, explaining that our low trustworthiness, private smartness and public dumbness, fatalist outlook, over-intelligence, lack of public hygiene, self-regulation or a sense of fairness, reluctance to penalize wrong conduct, mistaking talk for action, deep-rooted corruption, inability to follow systems, a sense of self-worth and a propensity to look for loopholes in laws.
He helps readers understand how to break this vicious cycle and how to bring a change in the image Indians have around the world.
This is a definite read for all Indians who are trying to understand what is keeping them one step behind in the rise to success
[Book Summary Source: Flipkart.com]
Ratings
Goodreads Rating - 3.45 out of 5 ( 507 Ratings , 78 Reviews - As on September 16 2017)
My Rating: 3 out of 5
My Comments:
Interesting analysis through Game Theory of the typical behaviors observed in the Indian society with a nice touch of humor and food for thought.
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