Nobody likes being forced to do something, even if it’s the right thing. That we often choose the wrong thing is the problem that Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein seek to address in “Nudge”.

“Nudge” is another in a growing genre of books that blends insights from psychology and economics. From Blink to Bounce, the Upside of Irrationality to Spousonomics and many others in between, these books are an alluring temptation for readers interested in the hidden workings of the human psyche.

But if you read more than a few (as I have), you start to notice patterns. While each book will have its own angle, much of the content, the experiments and case studies, have been seen before. In that respect, there is a certain ‘self-help’ quality about the genre: A promise of a new way of thinking, of a world transformed. We are inspired and ‘insight-ed’, but at the end of the day most everything remains the same, and we are primed for the next groundbreaking best-seller.

Still, “Nudge” caught my eye as it angled in on what governments could do to help people live healthier, happier lives. In another life, I worked for a government health department whose challenge was to ‘promote wellness’ in the community. There are no magic bullets in this business, and beyond the heavy handed strategies of regulation: taxing or banning clear health hazards like cigarettes and trans-fats, there is little that agencies can do to reliably move people towards healthy lifestyle choices.

Self-proclaimed ‘paternalist libertarians’, the authors set out to make the case that governments should neither be too paternalistic—using regulation to make or eliminate choices for citizens—nor completely libertarian—leaving citizens completely free to make up their mind.

Arguing against heavy handed regulation, politicians often say that they ‘trust the people’ more than government to make the choices that are in their own best self-interest. Unfortunately, ‘the people’ have powerful cognitive biases that can lead to some very bad choices: picking an unsuitable health plan, eating unhealthy foods, investing savings poorly, or not saving at all.

The book examines the importance of ‘choice architecture’. Choice architecture is the context or environment in which a choice is made. A popular example, used in this book and others, is that of organ donation pledges on driver’s licenses. In many places, considering that organ donations are often life-saving operations, donation rates are dismally low. It turns out that in jurisdictions where the question (usually completed when applying for or renewing a license) is phrased as an ‘opt-out’ proposition, rather than ‘opt-in’, organ donation rates soar dramatically.

In this case, the government has to choose a default option, so why not make the default option one that supports the public good?

Thaler and Sunstein provide a range of stories that demonstrate the promise of creative nudging through sensible defaults, appropriate incentives or re-framing complex choices. In my own experience, half the battle of ‘wellness’ is being conscious of choices as I make them. For those many unconscious, sub-optimal choices I make each day, perhaps I would do better with a teeny bit of help.