What will I learn about: why human beings are biologically and psychologically wired to add rather than subtract when trying to improve a situation?

Discover why human beings are biologically and psychologically wired to add rather than subtract when trying to improve a situation.

What will I learn about: why subtraction is a powerful, yet overlooked force for positive change that can transform everything from daily habits to urban landscapes?

Understand why subtraction is a powerful, yet overlooked force for positive change that can transform everything from daily habits to urban landscapes.

What will I learn about: Learn what a simple Lego building block experiment reveals about mental accessibility, and why taking things away rarely occurs to us as a solution?

Learn what a simple Lego building block experiment reveals about mental accessibility, and why taking things away rarely occurs to us as a solution.

What will I learn about: how simply reminding yourself that subtraction is an option can drastically improve your decision-making and problem-solving skills?

Find out how simply reminding yourself that subtraction is an option can drastically improve your decision-making and problem-solving skills.

What will I learn about: Explore how our evolutionary drive to acquire resources and display competence makes it difficult to eliminate physical clutter and unnecessary work?

Explore how our evolutionary drive to acquire resources and display competence makes it difficult to eliminate physical clutter and unnecessary work.

Subtract

The Untapped Science of Less

Leidy Klotz

★ 4.1 / 5(1290 ratings)

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Categories:

Science Society & Culture Psychology

If You're Curious About These Questions...

You should listen to this audiobook

💡Have you ever wondered why our brains instinctively choose to add more tasks and objects to our lives, even when we know we're already overwhelmed?
💡What if the secret to solving your most complex problems isn't about what you can add, but what you can take away?
💡Are you curious about how our evolutionary history has programmed us to overlook the power of subtraction in favor of 'more'?

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Key Takeaways from Subtract

✓Discover why human beings are biologically and psychologically wired to add rather than subtract when trying to improve a situation.
✓Understand why subtraction is a powerful, yet overlooked force for positive change that can transform everything from daily habits to urban landscapes.
✓Learn what a simple Lego building block experiment reveals about mental accessibility, and why taking things away rarely occurs to us as a solution.
✓Find out how simply reminding yourself that subtraction is an option can drastically improve your decision-making and problem-solving skills.
✓Explore how our evolutionary drive to acquire resources and display competence makes it difficult to eliminate physical clutter and unnecessary work.

Learning Tools

Reinforce what you learned from Subtract

Mind Map

Subtract

The Bias to Add+

Why We Constantly Add+

The Hidden Power of Subtraction+

Mastering Subtraction+

Quiz — Test Your Understanding

Question 1 of 7

What does the story of Sue Bierman and the San Francisco freeway illustrate about human behavior?

A. People naturally prefer to subtract infrastructure in order to create green spaces.
B. People often resist subtraction even when it offers a clear benefit, until they are forced to accept it by circumstances.
C. City planners are generally more inclined to subtract than ordinary citizens.
D. Subtraction is only effective when it is combined with adding new, modern developments.

Question 2 of 7

When the author conducted experiments asking participants to improve things like a mini-golf course or a travel itinerary, what was the primary reason they chose to add rather than subtract?

A. They consciously preferred complex designs over simple ones.
B. They believed adding demonstrated greater creativity and intelligence.
C. Subtracting was less mentally accessible, so they simply didn't think of it as an option.
D. The rules of the experiment explicitly forbade them from taking things away.

Question 3 of 7

According to the book, what evolutionary and psychological purpose does adding serve for humans, similar to the behavior of the male bowerbird?

A. It helps us camouflage our living spaces from potential threats.
B. It allows us to demonstrate our competence and gives us a biological feeling of reward.
C. It signals to competitors that we have fewer resources to defend.
D. It fulfills a biological need to constantly burn excess calories through physical labor.

Question 4 of 7

What surprising conclusion did archaeologists draw from the ancient stone temple at Göbekli Tepe?

A. The temple was built by a highly advanced agricultural society that later collapsed.
B. The builders used advanced subtraction techniques to carve the temple out of a single mountain.
C. The desire to build and add to the temple actually drove hunter-gatherers to settle down and invent agriculture.
D. Early humans only began building monumental architecture after they had established cooperative villages.

Question 5 of 7

How did post-WWII Keynesian economics and President Truman's policies influence our modern relationship with addition?

A. They framed constant economic growth and consumer addition as a pathway to world peace.
B. They introduced strict regulations on consumerism to prevent resource depletion.
C. They promoted the idea that subtracting unnecessary goods would lead to national prosperity.
D. They shifted the cultural focus from acquiring physical goods to acquiring more leisure time.

Question 6 of 7

In the context of fighting systemic oppression, why does the author argue that subtraction is more effective than addition?

A. Subtraction helps oppressed groups build new educational programs from scratch.
B. Subtraction is faster to implement because it requires less financial investment.
C. Adding resources to anti-oppression campaigns usually leads to corruption within those movements.
D. Subtraction focuses on removing the barriers to equality altogether, rather than just helping people overcome them.

Question 7 of 7

Economist Herbert Simon coined the term 'satisficing' to describe our tendency to leave things at 'good enough.' How does the Lexington, Kentucky creek redesign illustrate the antidote to satisficing?

A. The designer added a complex water filtration system that satisfied the city's modern needs.
B. The designer accepted the historical roads but added new parks on top of them.
C. The designer put in the extra effort to subtract the overlying roads and buildings, revealing a beautiful waterway.
D. The city decided to completely drain the creek to permanently solve the problem of waterborne diseases.

Subtract — Full Chapter Overview

1Recommendation
2Subtraction is a neglected driver of change.
3Subtracting is harder to call to mind than adding.
4Adding helps us feel capable and content.
5Addition came first; civilization followed.
6Keynesian theory suggests we grow wealthy by adding.
7Structural oppression can be reduced through subtraction.
8Subtraction repays the extra work it demands.

Subtract Summary & Overview

Subtract (2021) explores subtraction as a way to make positive change. It examines the human love affair with adding and having “more” – and it explains how our brains and environments work against subtraction.