I love finding quirky reading material that makes you stop and think, and that's exactly what 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 is all about!
From the Publisher:
An entertaining illumination of the stupid beliefs that make us feel wise.
You believe you are a rational, logical being who sees the world as it really is, but journalist David McRaney is here to tell you that you’re as deluded as the rest of us. But that’s OK- delusions keep us sane. You Are Not So Smart is a celebration of self-delusion. It’s like a psychology class, with all the boring parts taken out, and with no homework.
Based on the popular blog of the same name, You Are Not So Smart collects more than 46 of the lies we tell ourselves everyday, including:
- Dunbar’s Number – Humans evolved to live in bands of roughly 150 individuals, the brain cannot handle more than that number. If you have more than 150 Facebook friends, they are surely not all real friends.
- Hindsight bias – When we learn something new, we reassure ourselves that we knew it all along.
- Confirmation bias – Our brains resist new ideas, instead paying attention only to findings that reinforce our preconceived notions.
- Brand loyalty – We reach for the same brand not because we trust its quality but because we want to reassure ourselves that we made a smart choice the last time we bought it.
My Review:
This really is thought-provoking bathroom reading for the geeks and nerds in your life! The 48 chapters are concise and sometimes cutting. There is a fundamental bias of general stupidity that is assumed and runs throughout the book, which can be both funny and humbling. It really does attack some of the fundamental beliefs we hold so dear in our society and knocks them down like a professional bowler.
You could read this book cover to cover in a few sittings, but I really do think that taking the time to ponder the implications of each chapter while you ponder your place in the universe is a fitting way to use this book.
This is one of those great stocking-stuffer books for the guy or gal who loves to know everything about everything and is too old for Sid the Science Kid...
About the Author:
A two-time winner of the William Randolph Hearst Award, journalist David McRaney writes the blog YouAreNotSoSmart.com. The blog receives between 17,000 and 25,000 hits a day and there are currently over 6,000 subscribers to the site’s RSS feed with each new post immediately getting read by about 10,000 people. He is a journalist and a self-described psychology nerd. He lives in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
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 available in Hardcover or E-Book editions!
You can purchase a copy from your local bookseller, at many online retailer or you can win a Hardcover Copy HERE! (US/Canada only)
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book at no cost to me for the purpose of completing my review. All opinions are my own.
