Name: Essence of decision
ISBN: 9780321013491

Essence of decision

One of the most influental political science works written in the post World War II era, the original edition of Essence of Decision is a unique and fascinating examination of the pivotal event of the cold Cold War. Not simply revised, but completely re-written, the Second Edition of this classic text is a fresh reinterpretation of the theories and events surrounding the Cuban Missle Crisis, incorporating all new information from the Kennedy tapes and recently declassified Soviet files. Essence of Decision Second Edition, is a vivid look at decision-making under pressure and is the only single volume work that attempts to answer the enduring question: how should citizens understand the actions of their government?

What Hacker News says

bunderbunderAug 2026

Essence of Decision is a great book that explores this idea. It looks at different models for understanding how organizations make decisions, and arrives at broadly the same conclusion: a model that assumes people are particularly in control is inadequate for explaining real world events.

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mumblemumbleJan 2023

I think that some of the lessons from the book Essence of Decision might be relevant.

A challenge I've seen in management-heavy organizations is that the many layers of management largely function to make good management impossible. The many layers of command between ICs and the source of many decisions means that the people responsible for relaying information up the chain of command are incentivized to put their own spin on information as they relay it, in part in order to help secure their own positions within the hierarchy. The other side of that coin is that the many layers of communication between senior decisionmakers and what's actually happening on the ground mean that the information they get is often of insufficient fidelity to support accurate decisionmaking.

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chernevikDec 2021

A few:

"The Once and Future King", T.H. White -- best novelization of the problem of power

"Don Quixote", Miguel de Cervantes -- why stories matter

"Essence of Decision", Graham Allison -- how views of a historic episode vary with the theory you apply

"Abraham Lincoln: His Speeches and Writings", Basler/Sandburg -- The application of reason to the problems of law, morality and politics

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bunderbunderFeb 2019

Essence of Decision by Graham T. Allison

In a nutshell: The mental models we typically use to think about and understand the behavior of organizations such as corporations and governments are deeply wrong.

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bunderbunderOct 2018

If you're interested in this sort of thing, check out the book Essence of Decision, by Graham T. Allison.

It analyzes the Cuban missile crisis under three different models for understanding how organizations make decisions, and talks about how one might make sense of the facts in light of those models.

It's a fascinating read. The situation comes out feeling like a particularly operatic Kurosawa movie. Only the whole thing actually happened.

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nappyMar 2017

"The Essence of Decision" - Graham Allison and Philip Zelikow

The easy way to think decisions is with the rational actor model. "The United States didn't sign the TPP agreement because..." "Apple removed the headphone jack because..." When the reality of large organizations is that decisions are made in the interaction of many people suborganizations. Allison and Zelikow are political scientists who massively advanced academic understanding of organization decision making... to illustrate their theories, they did original research into the Cuban missile crisis using it as an example of various models. Very accessible. It changed the way I think about how companies, governments, and the world works.

"Infinite Jest" - David Foster Wallace

It changed my life. This book taught me empathy and the truth in ordinary things... It's brilliant and amazing and worth making your way through 1000+ pages. RIP DFW.

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