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

intricate thinking guide

This book was very detailed and informative.. I believe it covers most any lose ends you may have regarding Critical Thinking.

think twice

the book teaches you how. loved the information and presentation. I would strongly recommend this book.

A great way to learning about learning.

If you like spending your subscription credit on more weighty material and/or you can't afford the actual price of The Great Courses material, which is often more than $100/course on their website, this is the way to go. It's almost exclusively what I use audible for.

Steven Novella (who also hosts the Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast) is a great instructor and because it's his material it's quite natural and he has a pleasant speaking voice.

As for the actual lectures, I cannot stress enough how interesting the content is. Any reader/listener that enjoys putting their mind to use and is curious as to how that is actually accomplished would do well to listen to this. If you find logical fallacy, cognitive biases, meta-cognition interesting, this is for you. If you want to be more aware of your own shortcomings in constructing arguments, also for you. Should you want to more efficiently review information and discard non-relevant information more easily, also you. If you know someone who has a difficult time recognizing editorialized information from factual information. If someone you know is going to college or university for the first time, also a great read.

If you like your brain and want to be better friends with it; or conversely, if you want to more readily figure out what other brains are up to and whether or not you would like to be friends with those brains - good starting place.

I have, no kidding, listened to the entire thing five times. It encouraged me to go to college.

Open your mind

Love these lectures, opens your kind to the reality of how we think and why we make mistakes in what we believe in and think is true
And also give you a good plan to how to overcome our shortcomings when it comes to understanding and making judgment about life and what's real and what's not

Thinking about thinking

We’ll laid out and we’ll reasoned - will look for more by this author. A always looking to understand this subject .

well said

a nice listen to fade into sleep and relish many times great info to Grok

Blew. Me. Away.

Any additional comments?

As another listener stated, this should be required listening for everyone. I honestly feel like that the skills I learned as a result of these lectures have made me a more observant, overall better person. I have a better grasp on the reality of the world around me because I learned how to pierce through the crap, and really wonder why and how things happen. Thank you Professor Steven Novella for sharing your wisdom.

Nice job summarizing Personality theory

As a past teacher of psychology this course accurately describes the cognitive thought process. Very well researched and presented. Biggest drawback is the professor's failure to see that he subtly falls into some of his own bias traps he tells students to avoid whenever possible. There are multiple biases he describes accurately but then goes on to display his own biases, especially when giving examples of a negative-type biases/arguments by overweighting politically conservative biases versus left-leaning liberal biases. He implies that conservatives are more likely to display biased thinking than the 'liberal" thinking political groups. These is quite far from psychological truth. Both political sides are equally likely to have biased/prejudiced views. Simply knowing that the vast majority of university professors are politically left-leaning would allow a student to protect themselves from such manipulation however they do not have the experience or background to realize how easily their though processes can be manipulated by these nefarious "Teachers" of free-thinking. Quite ironic and hypocritical that the University level of education where they attempt to mold our youth to their own "liberal" point of view, while being critical of other viewpoints. Unfortunately for them it does not go unnoticed by fair and balanced psychology teachers like myself. I present both side of the arguments and let my students freely decide which seems correct to them. It was rare that a student could identify my political leanings after completing my course, and that's the way it should be.

Great course!

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

The narrator is wonderfully leading you through the story, makes you think and get engaged with the course itself. There were several of "Aha" moments that keep you motivated and interested in hearing more about it

Perfectly structured and Narrated.

Professor Novella has always been an inspiration. This course is a must listen! You won't regret it!