Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less

＂You need to read this book.＂ --Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author

＂A great book changes the world you live in, revealing mysteries you didn’t even know were there. This is a great book.＂ --Sendhil Mullainathan, MacArthur fellow and author of Scarcity

Blending behavioral science and design, Leidy Klotz’s Subtract offers a scientific appreciation of why we underuse subtraction--and how to access its untapped potential.

We pile on ＂to-dos＂ but don’t consider ＂stop-doings.＂ We create incentives for good behavior, but don’t get rid of obstacles to it. We collect new-and-improved ideas, but don’t prune the outdated ones. Every day, across challenges big and small, we neglect a basic way to make things better: we don’t subtract. Klotz’s pioneering research shows us what is true whether we’re building Lego models, cities, grilled-cheese sandwiches, or strategic plans: Our minds tend to add before taking away, and this is holding us back.

But we have a choice--our blind spot need not go on taking its toll. Subtract arms us with the science of less and empowers us to revolutionize our day-to-day lives and shift how we move through the world. More or less.

Leidy Klotz is the Copenhaver Associate Professor at the University of Virginia, where he is appointed in the Schools of Engineering, Architecture, and Business. He co-founded and co-directs the university’s Convergent Behavioral Science Initiative, which engages and supports applied, interdisciplinary research. Klotz earned a highly-selective CAREER award from the National Science Foundation, one of the NSF’s first awards through its INSPIRE program, and over ＄7 million in competitive research funding. He advises influential decision-makers that straddle academia and practice, working with the Departments of Energy and Homeland Security, the National Institutes of Health, Resources for the Future, ideas42, and Nature Sustainability. A columnist for the Behavioral Scientist, Klotz has written for venues such as Science, Nature, Fast Company, and The Daily Climate.