Mindwise

Why We Misunderstand What Others Think, Believe, Feel, and Want

By: Nicholas Epley

Narrated by: Nicholas Epley

You are a mind reader, born with an extraordinary ability to understand what others think, feel, believe, want, and know. It's a sixth sense you use every day, in every personal and professional relationship you have. At its best, this ability allows you to achieve the most important goal in almost any life: connecting, deeply and intimately and honestly, to other human beings. At its worst, it is a source of misunderstanding and unnecessary conflict, leading to damaged relationships and broken dreams.

How good are you at knowing the minds of others? How well can you guess what others think of you, know who really likes you, or tell when someone is lying? How well do you really understand the minds of those closest to you, from your spouse to your kids to your best friends? Do you really know what your coworkers, employees, competitors, or clients want?

In this illuminating exploration of one of the great mysteries of the human mind, University of Chicago psychologist Nicholas Epley introduces us to what scientists have learned about our ability to understand the most complicated puzzle on the planet - other people - and the surprising mistakes we so routinely make. Why are we sometimes blind to the minds of others, treating them like objects or animals? Why do we sometimes talk to our cars, or the stars, as if there is a mind that can hear us? Why do we so routinely believe that others think, feel, and want what we do when, in fact, they do not? And why do we believe we understand our spouses, family, and friends so much better than we actually do? Mindwise will not turn other people into open books, but it will give you the wisdom to revolutionize how you think about them - and yourself.

©2014 Nicholas Epley (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Awesom

Loved it. A great book to really bend your mind and get you thinking clear

I do recommend!

This really is a very helpful book!
Understanding/Respecting others Points of Views and different Perspectives.

awesome book

great read also a wonderful title and I love how it challenge you to understand our others think 🤔

A book challenge your comfortable zone

A great book to refresh your perspective of the world. Hate it at the beginning, but love and will review it at the end. Really like a bitter sweet relationship.

A fantastic book to increase your insight.

I think this is one of the best books you can read about psychology.

Making a complicated subject simple is to demonstrate mastery of it. This book teaches you in 6 hours what some professors could not teach in a class and for it's short and substantial nature I view it as a masterpiece of a guide.

Disappointed

There's not a lot here that hasn't been said elsewhere, many times. Feels like a vanity book.

Interesting throughout, but finishes really strong

Would you listen to Mindwise again? Why?

I would listen to Mindwise again because there was a lot to unpack, but I found it overall very understandable and easy to listen to.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Mindwise?

I loved that the book started and ended in the same place with the meeting of his adopted children's father, but at the end you had a better understanding of the limits of the meeting.

Have you listened to any of Nicholas Epley’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not, but his reading was very engaging.

Good reminder to not assume you know someone else’s thoughts

It was a good reminder that we don’t understand our own thoughts, let alone able to interpret the thoughts of others accurately, and to ask rather than assume. Good reminder. I felt there was a bit of an anti-God tone (Darwin, evolutionist), which might be the authors personal perspective, but after reading the book wouldn’t simply assume he’s an Atheist. :-)

My mind is a bit wiser

Me. Epley does a fantastic job of conveying his interest in the brilliance and shortcomings of the human mind. He mixes citation with humor to lead the listener on an interesting journey that will hopefully make your mind, like mine, a bit wiser.

Informative

This is a wonderful, thought provoking, informative book! I learned a great deal about myself and my own thinking.