You Are Now Less Dumb: How to Conquer Mob Mentality, How to Buy Happiness, and Allthe Other Ways to Outsmart Yourself Author: David McRaney | Language: English | ISBN:
B009VMBJ5S | Format: PDF
You Are Now Less Dumb: How to Conquer Mob Mentality, How to Buy Happiness, and Allthe Other Ways to Outsmart Yourself Description
The author of the bestselling You Are Not So Smart shares more discoveries about self-delusion and irrational thinking, and gives readers a fighting chance at outsmarting their not-so-smart brains David McRaney’s first book,
You Are Not So Smart, evolved from his wildly popular blog of the same name. A mix of popular psychology and trivia, McRaney’s insights have struck a chord with thousands, and his blog--and now podcasts and videos--have become an Internet phenomenon.
Like
You Are Not So Smart,
You Are Now Less Dumb is grounded in the idea that we all believe ourselves to be objective observers of reality--except we’re not. But that’s okay, because our delusions keep us sane. Expanding on this premise, McRaney provides eye-opening analyses of fifteen more ways we fool ourselves every day, including: The Misattribution of Arousal (Environmental factors have a greater affect on our emotional arousal than the person right in front of us) Sunk Cost Fallacy (We will engage in something we don’t enjoy just to make the time or money already invested “worth it”) Deindividuation (Despite our best intentions, we practically disappear when subsumed by a mob mentality) McRaney also reveals the true price of happiness, why Benjamin Franklin was such a badass, and how to avoid falling for our own lies. This smart and highly entertaining book will be wowing readers for years to come.
- File Size: 575 KB
- Print Length: 321 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1592408052
- Publisher: Gotham Books (July 30, 2013)
- Sold by: Penguin Group (USA) LLC
- Language: English
- ASIN: B009VMBJ5S
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #31,216 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #36
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Behavioral Sciences > Cognitive Science - #36
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Psychology & Counseling > Social Psychology & Interactions - #36
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Science > Behavioral Sciences > Cognitive Psychology
- #36
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Behavioral Sciences > Cognitive Science - #36
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Psychology & Counseling > Social Psychology & Interactions - #36
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Science > Behavioral Sciences > Cognitive Psychology
As one who has always been fascinated by psychology, yet not formally educated in it (beyond a few college courses) and not inclined to read dry textbooks on the subject, this book is a treat. It blends the latest research in individual and social psychology with funny anecdotes and insights into why we behave the way we do. Don't be put off by the title if it seems a bit frivolous: this is a serious, thought-provoking book (though quite humorous and entertaining, as well).
This is more or less a continuation of the author's previous book, "You Are Not So Smart", but you need not feel compelled to read the former: you don't really need to know the themes and ideas of the first book to read this one. In essence, the book shows us how knowledge and understanding of our self-delusions can be used to help us become, well, 'less dumb'. Using recent discoveries and research into behavior to help us see that we are not the objective observers of our lives we believe ourselves to be, but, rather, delusional lemmings stuck on autopilot, the author gives us 17 examples of how we fool ourselves in life.
Each example is brilliantly written and fascinating, incorporating science, funny anecdotes and trivia. But don't get the idea that this is just a whimsical 'pop psychology' book; this is a serious study of our irrational unconscious selves, yet presented in a highly entertaining way (much like how Richard Feynman could make quantum physics accessible and understandable to the average person, as Carl Sagan did with cosmology - complicated science explained in an engaging manner).
The author's central theme is that scientific method has saved - and continues to save - mankind from it's delusional dumbness.
I am a huge fan and advocate of Mr. McRaney's previous book, You Are Not So Smart: Why You Have Too Many Friends on Facebook, Why Your Memory Is Mostly Fiction, and 46 Other Ways You're Deluding Yourself so I was eager to read "You Are Now Less Dumb." Both are in the same format, and as such this book shares many of the pros and cons as the previous one.
Each chapter starts with a brief description of a common myth and why it is false. The chapter then goes into detail. In contrast to YANSS, this book has fewer examples of myths, but longer explanations. This take-your-time style is more effective. If you're going to dispel a treasured fallacy, it makes sense to hit it from many angles.
When McRaney leans too heavily on describing the surprising results of yet another psychological study, the book feels like a dry text book. For someone endlessly fascinated by psychology (like me) it's a little tough to get through those parts, but do-able. For someone not so into psych, these parts will bring back nightmares of higher education.
Note that's just a small critique. The vast majority of the book is enjoyable and worthwhile. Debunking myths could easily dissolve into a snobby or lecturing tone, but McRaney has a great sense of humor and that carries into the writing. When he settles into telling a story to explain a scientific concept, there's none better.
Lastly, and I'm not advocating any dumbing-down here (of course!) but charts and graphs showing clearly the result of the many referenced psychological studies would go a long way toward breaking up the text and assisting in visualization of the non-intuitive results.
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