Your Deceptive Mind: A Scientific Guide to Critical Thinking Skills

By: Steven Novella, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Steven Novella

Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

No skill is more important in today's world than being able to think about, understand, and act on information in an effective and responsible way. What's more, at no point in human history have we had access to so much information, with such relative ease, as we do in the 21st century. But because misinformation out there has increased as well, critical thinking is more important than ever.

These 24 rewarding lectures equip you with the knowledge and techniques you need to become a savvier, sharper critical thinker in your professional and personal life. By immersing yourself in the science of cognitive biases and critical thinking, and by learning how to think about thinking (a practice known as metacognition), you'll gain concrete lessons for doing so more critically, more intelligently, and more successfully.

The key to successful critical thinking lies in understanding the neuroscience behind how our thinking works - and goes wrong; avoiding common pitfalls and errors in thinking, such as logical fallacies and biases; and knowing how to distinguish good science from pseudoscience. Professor Novella tackles these issues and more, exploring how the (often unfamiliar) ways in which our brains are hardwired can distract and prevent us from getting to the truth of a particular matter.

Along the way, he provides you with a critical toolbox that you can use to better assess the quality of information. Even though the world is becoming more and more saturated information, you can take the initiative and become better prepared to make sense of it all with this intriguing course.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2012 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2012 The Great Courses

Amazing

Should be required reading for everyone. Pick it up, now. Now. Do it. Just do it.

It may not clear your thinking, but you'll have a better idea of what's getting in the way

Because of the way we evolved over the ages, be it millions of years or something much shorter, our minds developed shortcuts so we could survive out in the world. Now that we have, in certain regions and to varying degrees, managed to overcome the most immediate threats to our existence; finding enough to eat while avoiding being eaten. The shortcuts we developed then are not as nearly required as they once were. This course teaches what the shortcuts are (confirmation bias, stereotyping etc.) and steps one can take to avoid them when necessary, and the means to overcome them and see more clearly the trees and the forests of modern day life.

Awesome Book!

this book was a very interesting and it forming all the different aspects of analytical thinking.

One of my favorite so far

This is one of my favorite great courses so far. I'm not sure that I would describe it as totally revolutionary or earth shattering but it was definitely an enlightening and clarifying shift in perspective. I think everyone would do well to take his skeptic approach, especially in the information age. I found a lot of the tools he presented to be really helpful to critical thinking. It has definitely helped me to be more mindful of the information that I'm given. I think it is also useful in building empathy, trying to understand other people's views. I would highly recommend this course.

Big Fan

Big fan of the Great Courses, love the emphasis on the power of metacognition and being able to interpret the world at large.

MOST RELEVANT TOPIC OF THE TIME

In this era of omnipresent internet, where everyone knows everything, one needs to learn to differentiate the Truth from the Garbage, the News from the Opinion, the Real from the Fake.
In the world, a minority only, have science background. Even lesser have scientifically analytical minds.
This course teaches even the minds without exposure to Science the concept to become a scientific person.
More the people become Scientific, more we can get rid of the Exploiters of the society, more we can avoid the Liars and the Brain-Washers !

Thought-provoking

Excellent book. Very enjoyable. A plethora of various thoughts to dig into and get a deeper understanding of.

Everyone should listen to this audiobook

Super fascinating look on how we learn and interpret facts. Anyone remotely interested in science should definitely go through this book, and as a whole has leagues of information valuable to anyone who wants to be able to discern information from disinformation.

Logic is good

I loved this book. The ideas are applicable to everyone and everything. It made me question some of my long held beliefs, a step closer to seeing the world as it really is.

A great introduction into critical thinking

I have always considered myself to be a logical thinker, but I often find I couldn't put my thoughts into words. This course outlines several ways to observe information critically and provides several structures for breaking down logical fallacies. After this course I view the world through different eyes and I'm definitely going to ask for a source.