The Paradox of Choice is an influential self-help book by psychologist Barry Schwartz. The book talks about the wide variety of choices made available to consumers today, which is both a boon and a bane. About how this system of excess alternatives and variety challenges both satisficers and maximizers in today's marketplace. It explains why too much of a good thing has proven harmful to our psychological and emotional well-being. Synthesizing current social science research, he makes the counterintuitive case that eliminating choices can significantly reduce the stress, anxiety, and busyness of our lives. In accessible, engaging, and anecdotal prose, he offers practical steps on how to limit choices to a manageable number, have the discipline to focus on the important ones and ignore the rest, and ultimately derive greater satisfaction from the choices you make. .Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayThe paradox referred to in the title is that (offering) more choice can sometimes mean fewer sales. How did the book help you? The book helped me understand my regret problem. How my decision-making skills are heavily influenced by terms like anticipatory remorse and post-decision remorse. It made me realize how I am constantly the target of my own anticipatory regret that if I made a choice for myself now and in the future a better opportunity would present itself but I would lose it because of my previous decisions. Or how post-decision regret makes it harder to have fun. Is there a particular character you could identify with? It's a self-help book that doesn't necessarily have characters, but I could identify with the author in the first chapter Let's Go Shopping. How does the book contribute to your understanding of yourself? The book talks about concepts such as autonomy and freedom, decisions and choices, regrets, both the preface and the consequences, social comparison, depression etc. All these topics and their detailed analysis helped me remember my life experiences, the decisions and choices I made, the mistakes, made me realize the thought process that was coming to the moment of decision making. It made me understand my fears and apprehensions, my thought patterns, my perspective and my approach to things. How much choice and freedom I practice and how this contributes to my personal growth. The perspective of this book made me understand the reasons for my confused state of indecision and illuminated my understanding of myself. How did you relate to the book? I related to the book from the first chapter itself where the author goes shopping and finds himself lost in the wide variety of jeans available to him. When all he was looking for were regular jeans. I could relate to his confused state of mind when he was presented with the different variety of jeans he could choose from. My whole life my dad brought me jeans, but lately I started trying to go shopping on my own and found myself lost in the denim jungle. All I wanted were regular fit non-skinny jeans, but when I went shopping I found types of jeans like skinny jeans, high waisted jeans, bell bottoms, flared jeans, sequin jeans , mom jeans and boy jeans and I felt absolutely at a loss as to what I had come to get and what I actually wanted to buy. What self-awareness topic does this book address? Autonomy and freedom are the themes of self-awareness addressed.. ”