The Scout Mindset

Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don't

By: Julia Galef

Narrated by: Julia Galef

Length: 6 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

Winner of best smart thinking book 2022 (Business Book Awards)

Guardian best books of 2021

When it comes to what we believe, humans see what they want to see. In other words, we have what Julia Galef calls a 'soldier' mindset. From tribalism and wishful thinking, to rationalising in our personal lives and everything in between, we are driven to defend the ideas we most want to believe—and shoot down those we don't.

But if we want to get things right more often we should train ourselves to think more like a scout. Unlike the soldier, a scout's goal isn't to defend one side over the other. It's to go out, survey the territory and come back with as accurate a map as possible. Regardless of what they hope to be the case, above all, the scout wants to know what's actually true.

In The Scout Mindset, Galef shows that what makes scouts better at getting things right isn't that they're smarter or more knowledgeable than everyone else. It's a handful of emotional skills, habits and ways of looking at the world—which anyone can learn.

With fascinating examples ranging from how to survive being stranded in the middle of the ocean, to how Jeff Bezos avoids overconfidence, to how superforecasters outperform CIA operatives, to Reddit threads and modern partisan politics, Galef explores why our brains deceive us and what we can do to change the way we think.

©2021 Julia Galef (P)2021 Hachette Audio UK

Critic reviews

"Original, thought-provoking and a joy to read." (Tim Harford)

"This is a book that will make a real difference in how you think." (Sean Carroll) 

"Highly recommended. It's not easy to become (more of) a scout, but it's hard not to be inspired by this book." (Rutger Bregman)

"With insights that are both sharp and actionable, The Scout Mindset picks up where Predictably Irrational left off. Reading it will teach you to think more clearly, see yourself more accurately, and be wrong a little less often." (Adam Grant)

Insightful

It has nice list of personal biases, which are very important to keep in mind while having opinion about something.

Julia, thank you :)

For all those inspiring real stories and situations. For the systematization and providing with useful tools to work with. For your passion to share your knowledge and experience. And… Since our way of thinking is very very similar in many many ways… I kinda knew what it all was going to be about, but… Still I found this book to be more than I expected. I picked up some tricks from it I had never even guessed about. Thank you for that.

Mike.

Intro to Rationality

This is an excellent book that reads like an intro to Rationality class at a University. Even though it's an intro to Rationality it can be very helpful to everyone