The human mind is both brilliant and pathetic. We have mastered fire and have stood on the moon, and yet every one of us is fundamentally ignorant, irrational and prone to making simple mistakes every day.
‘In The Knowledge Illusion, the cognitive scientists Steven Sloman and Philip Fernbach hammer another nail into the coffin of the rational individual . . . positing that not just rationality but the very idea of individual thinking is a myth.’
Yuval Harari, bestselling author of Sapiens and Homo Deus
In this groundbreaking book, cognitive scientists Steven Sloman and Philip Fernbach show how our success as a species is down to us living in a rich community of knowledge where we are drawing on information and expertise outside our heads. And we have no idea that we are even doing it.
Utilizing cutting-edge research, The Knowledge Illusion explains why we think we know more than we do, why beliefs are so hard to change and why we are so prone to making mistakes. Providing a blueprint for successful ways to work in collaboration to do amazing things, it reveals why the key to human intelligence lies in the way we think and work together.
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- The Optimism Bias : Why we’re wired to look on the bright side – Tali Sharot (Abridged)
- The Fear Factor : How One Emotion Connects Altruists, Psychopaths and Everyone In-Between – Abigail Marsh (Abridged)
- The Confidence Game : The Psychology of the Con and Why We Fall for It Every Time – Maria Konnikova (Abridged)
- Other Minds : The Octopus and the Evolution of Intelligent Life – Peter Godfrey-Smith (Abridged)
- Against Empathy : The Case for Rational Compassion – Paul Bloom (Abridged)
- You Are Now Less Dumb : How to Conquer Mob Mentality, How to Buy Happiness, and All the Other Ways to Ou tsmart Yourself – David McRaney (Abridged)
- The Upside of Irrationality : The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home – Dan Ariely (Abridged)