Know Thyself

The Science of Self-Awareness

By: Stephen M. Fleming

Narrated by: George Weightman

Length: 7 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

Unlock the secrets to understanding yourself and others with the surprising science of the human mind's greatest power: introspection.

“Are you sure?”

Whether in a court room, a doctor’s office, a gameshow’s hot seat, or a student’s desk, we are always trying to answer that question. Should we accept eyewitness testimony or a physician’s diagnosis? Do we really want to risk it all on a final question? And what should we be studying in order to do as well as possible on a test? In short, how do we know what we and others know - or as importantly, don’t know?

As cognitive neuroscientist Stephen Fleming shows in Know Thyself, we do this with metacognition. Metacognition, or thinking about thinking, is the most important tool we have for understanding our own mind. Metacognition is an awesome power: It is what enables self-awareness as well as what lets us think about the minds of others. It is the ultimate human trait, and in its most rarefied forms is a power that neither other animals, nor our current artificial intelligences, have. Metacognition teaches us the limits of our own knowledge. Once we understand what it is and how it works, we can improve our performance and make better decisions. For example, on the SAT, it helps us gauge when we should skip a question rather than lose points getting an answer wrong.

Know Thyself, like the metacognition itself, is equal parts scientific, philosophical, and practical. And that means, like Thinking, Fast and Slow and Predictably Irrational, it’s that rarest of books: one that can both expand our minds and change our lives.

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

©2021 Stephen M. Fleming (P)2021 Basic Books

Critic reviews

"What a wonderful book. From self-doubt to self-awareness, and everything in between. Steve Fleming, who has made his career study thoughts about thoughts, or metacognition, takes the reader on a journey into what it means to be a being that knows its self, and, as a consequence, can contemplate the self inside others." (Joseph LeDoux, author of The Deep History of Ourselves) 

"Know Thyself is an extraordinary book. Written by a leader in the science of self-awareness, it is both accessible and erudite, a self-help manual and a work of scholarship. It will be a rewarding read for anyone who wants to understand how metacognition (and its failures) affect us in personal and public life - in education, sports, law, politics, and in our ever-deepening engagements with AI." (Cecilia Heyes, professor of psychology at University of Oxford and author of Cognitive Gadgets) 

"I used to believe that in psychology 'If it’s interesting, we can’t measure it. And, if we can measure it, it’s not interesting'. After reading this book I realize how wrong I was. Nothing is more interesting than exploring our own minds and now there are rigorous new methods to quantify such explorations. Steve Fleming provides a superb guide to these methods, and furthermore, he demonstrates the crucial importance of developing self-awareness for dealing with society’s most pressing problems." (Christopher Frith, emeritus professor of neuropsychology at University College London and author of Making Up the Mind) 

Amazing book on self-awareness

I was unaware of Stephen Fleming’s work, so I was pleasantly surprised about how awesome this book was. Without a doubt, self-awareness is one of the most important aspects of our lives, but how self-aware are we? Fleming has been studying self-awareness for years and has conducted a ton of really interesting research. Sometimes, I get concerned that books like this will get heavy into neuroscience jargon, but Fleming did a great job writing this with non-academics in mind. He starts the book by sharing a bit about why he became interested in this field at a young age and a bit of his experience. Until this book, I had never heard of metacognitive neuroscience, but now, I just want to learn more about it.

Starting early with the first chapter, Fleming tackles one of the most important subjects, which is how to be uncertain. Without self-awareness, our confidence and certainty can be a dangerous thing, and in this chapter, Fleming explains some of our cognitive processes and thinking errors that can become obstacles for our self-awareness and decision-making. Then, he goes on to cover what the research tells us about how well we know ourselves, how well we know others, and why our brains are designed for self-deception. With a combination of all of these studies as well as some real-world examples, this book provides a ton of value to the reader. As someone who finds this subject extremely important as well as fascinating, I’m glad this book was provided so much easy-to-grasp information that I haven’t read in other books. I can definitely see myself reading this book again in the future.

Like listening to a technical manual read out loud

This is on me, but I can't listen to narrators with a proper English accent. It puts me to sleep.

But putting that aside, this book is great if you would like a deep understanding of brain physiology as it relates to meta cognition. Or if you are an academic in the field of brain research. If you are like me and looking to gain some insight on self awareness, look elsewhere. The conclusions from the applied research are questionable at best. The is no insight to be had in this book. It is a purely academic work.

interesting analysis

A bit academic, but an interesting analysis. Provided research support for much of which is common sense.