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

Educating your mind for our society.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes I would. Very informative and exposes the listener to things going on that impact your life that you know nothing about and no way to offset it. It provides very useful info regarding nearly every aspect of your life. The narrator/professor speaks in layman term. Very pleasant to listen to.

Have you listened to any of Professor Steven Novella’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No

Great primer on thinking

What did you love best about Your Deceptive Mind: A Scientific Guide to Critical Thinking Skills?

Dr. Novella is very good at communicating, which made this course easy to listen to. Of course the content was excellent as well.

Any additional comments?

I highly recommend this book to anyone curious about how science, skepticism, or critical thinking.

Should be mandatory course for all good citizens

Should be mandatory for anyone with a Facebook, Twitter or even email account, and anyone wishing to espouse an idea about how the world works.

A rigid but helpful cleaner of wrong ideas

Would you listen to Your Deceptive Mind: A Scientific Guide to Critical Thinking Skills again? Why?

Yes, it is attractive

Were the concepts of this book easy to follow, or were they too technical?

Yes, they were too conceptual and technical

Would you listen to another book narrated by Professor Steven Novella?

of course

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Be careful when thinking

Everyone needs this course in this modern world

Anxious and overwhelmed by all the information and misinformation out there. Think about taking a journey with this course. This is a great course on scientific approach,critical thinking and skepticism. This will help you with your analysis, cognitive biases, meta cognition and improve awareness.

A nice overview

What did you like best about this story?

It was a nice refresher of logical fallacies, how they occur and how to identify them. It is good for the layman who has an interest in this sort of topic.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

It would be difficult to listen to in one sitting, considering the length. Also having some to stop and think about and research the claims made seems more appropriate for this kind of book.

Any additional comments?

A pdf with a list of the studies he refers to would be nice.

Great Guidance

It's worth listening to. I get the impression that the lecturer wouldn't be the easiest person to get along with at a party. Not that the litmus test for a good lecture should be "Would I like to be friends with this guy?" But, we wouldn't be friends.

That aside, his points are valid and instructive. I may review this lecture again sometime in the future.

We all need to hold these ideas in mind

There is a real dearth of this perspective in our society today, and maybe there always had been. The point: "we are all biased in many ways, and must continually be aware of how our biases effect our version of reality". Good stuff and makes me hungry for more.

Wonderful review of the ways we can fool ourselves

A must for anyone interested in skepticism, pseudoscience, or just the ways in which our brains can and do fool ourselves every day.

Well done.

Anyone will benefit from the lessons learned within these courses. It is a skill that is greatly lacking in our society.