Neuroscience and Critical Thinking: Understand the Hidden Pathways of Your Thought Patterns- Improve Your Memory, Make Rational Decisions, Tune Down Emotional Reactions, and Set Realistic Expectations

By: Albert Rutherford

Narrated by: Russell Newton

Length: 2 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

Improve your critical, logical, observational, and rational thinking skills with the timeless principles presented in this book.

©2019 Albert Rutherford (P)2019 Albert Rutherford

Strong, deep book

Alittle over my head, but hey, I bought it and can listen to it again and again till I get more out of it. All "Meat and potatoes " written, no fluff, ever sentence and paragraph packed with info. Just long enough to avoid listener fatigue. most of the other nonfiction on here is just repetitious rambling. Avoid all books that the author has to spend 15 minutes telling you how great he or she is. Avoid books written by people from Harvard, no real life experience for generations.

Awesome

The chapters are as follows:
1) Neuroscience of belief and perception
2) Memory and error
3) On reality
4) Arguments and logical fallacies
5) Marketing, media and other mindgames
6) Conspiracy theories demystified

This is overall a great succinct, informative and science-based book. I had to recently return a book about "changing the habit of being yourself" because the blurb falsely advertised it as being about neuroscience, when in fact it was full of tapping into the consciousness of the universe and raising your frequency crap. "Neuroscience and Critical Thinking", on the other hand, is the real deal. It starts with how the human brain processes and stores information, which informs how biased our perception of past and present reality is. The later chapters on logical fallacies, marketing and conspiracy theories were the most interesting to me as I try to convey a little of that to my university physics students whenever the opportunity arises. If only critical thinking skills were a required class starting in middle school we would not have to deal with today's obscurantism as evidenced by flat earthers, alien cover-up "theorists", climate change deniers etc. This little book will teach you how biased your brain is, and what to do about it now that you know that.
Note: I was given this book in exchange for a review.

Easy and short

Note: I received this book for free.

This was quite a short listen and very basic intro to the subject but it was easy to follow and very simple to understand. Despite all of this I would give it 3,5 stars and recommend it only to people who want a very basic introductory level book on the subject.

Nice introduction

A good overview, while using relatable examples, without going too far in depth. This book provided me with more information about critical thinking. It also intrigued me enough to add three more books on this topic to my library.

Cursory glance

In this book we get a basic summation of what is and what is not critical thinking, so he defines terms which is good. The last half of the book is focused mostly on conspiracy theories and why they shouldn’t be trusted. Logical fallacies of different types are explained but it is constantly compared with people who believe conspiracies. Almost pitting logic against the beliefs of others instead of explaining deep thought patterns that make us believe what can’t be proven. I understand the author may be trying to link a logical fallacy with a subject we all know well (ie the moon landing hoax conspiracy) but, I think the same idea could have been conveyed with more personable stories and in the process would have made the book more interesting.
The takeaway for me was that you should check multiple sources of information without finding one and believing it. Also, question yourself to see if what you think is supported by evidence.
This book is basic and short. The author could have dug deeper on a lot of subjects and concepts. Good for a new audience or people who are just beginning to think introspectively.

Facepalm

It's amazingly baffling how much this author teaching about fallacies and biases is saturatively dripping in them as they speak of them.

Informative book

Full disclosure: I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

This book provides many concepts about thought processes, patterns, and biases and then examples of each. There is only one or two examples of each concept as lots of concepts are covered and the book is just 2 hrs and 21 minutes.
It would have been nice to have more examples, more information, and recommendations on how to deal with situations where critical thinking and rational decision making could be utilized. Not instructions, but recommendations.

The narrator was a good choice with clear enunciation and made me feel like I was listening to a knowledgeable professor in class.

Overall, I would recommend this book if you were looking to learn about many process, patterns, and biases to be cognizant of in our daily lives.
However, if you are looking for a in depth dive of critical thinking and neuroscience, I would recommend looking elsewhere.

Informative

The first half of the book is very informative and the last half is practical. I really enjoy learning about how our brains work and why. I recommend it for anyone that deals with people.

good but short

overall I like it.
the book is short trying to cover a deep subject, it feels like an introduction to different concepts related to critical thinking.
It also feels like jumping from one subject to another with out connection.
i didn't like the performance and the voice of the narrator, he didn't transmit passion for the subject, it feels like those software generated voices

How to pretend like you think critically

First, list out fallacies that most people are aware of, without much context.
Second, put those fallacies on full display, but claim you are using reason and logic.
Third, sell your book for a few dollars, and by the time listeners see the book for what it is, you already have their money.

Yes, I knew the author was left wing before purchasing the book just based on the sample. However, it was cheap and short, and I like hearing multiple perspectives on this topic. Unfortunately, the author does not. The only examples of rationalization and conspiracy theories given were those "right wingers". Sure, some right wingers are guilty of this, but if you seriously can't come up with one example on the other side, then you are clearly not objective.