Think Again

The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

By: Adam Grant

Narrated by: Adam Grant

Length: 6 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

The best-selling author of Give and Take and Originals examines the critical art of rethinking: learning to question your opinions and open other people's minds, which can position you for excellence at work and wisdom in life.

Intelligence is usually seen as the ability to think and learn, but in a rapidly changing world, there's another set of cognitive skills that might matter more: the ability to rethink and unlearn. In recent months, the pandemic has forced us all to reevaluate our assumptions about health and safety and multiple acts of police brutality have challenged most of us to reconsider our responsibility for fighting racism. Yet in our daily lives, too many of us still favor the comfort of conviction over the discomfort of doubt. We listen to opinions that make us feel good, instead of ideas that make us think hard. 

We see disagreement as a threat to our egos, rather than an opportunity to learn. We surround ourselves with people who agree with our conclusions, when we should be gravitating toward those who challenge our thought process. The result is that our beliefs get brittle long before our bones. Intelligence is no cure, and it can even be a curse: there's evidence that being good at thinking can make us worse at rethinking. The brighter we are, the blinder we can become to our own limitations. 

As an organisational psychologist, Adam Grant has spent his career exploring how we can open other people's minds - and our own. As Wharton's top-rated professor and the number one New York Times best-selling author of Originals and Give and Take, one of his guiding principles in life is arguing like he's right but listening like he's wrong. 

With bold ideas and rigorous evidence, he investigates how we can embrace the joy of being wrong, harness the surprising advantages of impostor syndrome, bring nuance into charged conversations about abortion and climate change, and build schools, workplaces and communities of lifelong learners. 

You'll learn how an international debate champion wins arguments, a Black musician persuades white supremacists to abandon hate, a vaccine whisperer convinces anti-vaxxers to immunise their children, and how Adam has coaxed Yankees fans to root for the Red Sox. 

Think Again reveals that we don't have to believe everything we think or internalise everything we feel. It's an invitation to let go of views that are no longer serving us well and prize mental flexibility, humility and curiosity over foolish consistency. If knowledge is power, knowing what we don't know is wisdom.

©2021 Adam Grant (P)2021 Penguin Audio

An amazing read!

Everyone in education sound read this book! It will change the way you think as a teachers and give your student a totally different learning experience, creating a better world for us all!

Data and Facts

it is interesting to hear data backing most of experiences.

the story or case study around NASA and what you will tell your younger self if so critical in how we approach the directions of our lives .

Rethinking has become a lost skill

Rethinking with a purpose in a Scientific method is just not given enough significance. Ive been challenged to try and rethink but with real practical guidelines.

Provoking and colourful

It is good practical look at how you can redefine your thinking, yourself and your influence.

Adam Grant also conveys his intended humour brilliantly through the reading!

The antidote to a polarised world

Great to hear the author present his research and ideas in his own voice and own emphasis. And I especially appreciated this was not about being right but how to advance and progress wisdom - both individually and collectively.

Think Again

loved it - learned a few things and highly recommended for leaders in times of uncertainty and change

Adam Grant has done it again!

I’ve read (listened) all of Adam’s books and as usual he not only enlightened me, but he also reminded me of the importance to stop up and RETHINK what I (we) do to ensure we’re not just running with “business as usual”, but always are looking for the best and optimized solution.

Life is complex

Grant has helped me understand the complexity of life and taught me to be a more active listener; now to make it a habit.
See complex problems through a prism, not as two sides of a coin.

Best book I’ve read this year!

Think again taught me so much about the thinking process and how we operate in our life. With scientific insights, this book is like binge-watching a TED talk series! A MUST read for everyone. That’s it. Go, get it!
😇

A Great Conversation

Listening to Adam Grant always feels like a really good conversation to me. I thoroughly enjoyed the topics in the book and even though not all of it was new to me, sometimes it's enough to hear old truths in a new perspective. I would recommend this book to any person who wants to have a more fulfilling life and wants to be open to possibility.

This did not make me think again

Before I started this book, I understood how important it is to never assume, to question everything and to keep learning in order to grow and develop. I thought this book would go deeper into this, it did not. The book was extremely disappointing. and I did not feel I learnt anything. The author states the obvious throughout and gives anecdotal evidence, which is difficult to transfer to a broader range of situations. I could not listen to the end.

Could've been a blog

Concepts are very simple, basically exactly as the title reads. Think again by using questions and a different attitude

not a book for self doubters

The book was a dissappointment. Partly because my expectations were high. It was recommended by people I admire. And maybe partly because the book advocates avoiding excessive self-confidence and trodden paths, whereas I naturally doubt myself and my own strategies. There were definitely some good ideas in the book. I liked the section on debating. A useful takeaway is that successful debaters always start by emphasising what they and their oponents agree about and only then state their differences. Secondly, you do not need 20 points supporting yiur position. It is better to have 2 or 3 but elaborate better on those. A good idea was in the epilogue: schedule time not only for doing things, but for thinking and rethinking.

Anecdotes anecdotes anectodes

I feel like I’ve just listened to someone who loves hearing his own voice and just continues talking without having anything new to say after the first chapter. Happy to have this book behind me now…

Genuinely thought provoking

Unable to imagine anyone who couldn’t benefit from this book. A really positive and constructive way in what we truly should prioritise in our approach to both thinking and learning

Excellent

Learned a lot from this book and would recommend it to my friends and network

Fascinating read

Will change how I think about everything I think about in future. Highly recommended for anyone interested in learning about how to influence your thinking and that of others

Pocket life/career coach

I like when the book is read by its author. The ideas are expressed as sincere as possible.
the book helps to reevaluate your approaches in life.

Excellent practical advice

This book is really well written and provides thoughtful approaches to rethinking our assumptions. The idea of “thinking like a scientist” by testing our opinions as a hypothesis and running them through experiments is something I’ll start incorporating.

Everyone should read / listen to this book

I have learnt so much from Adam Grant’s latest book Think Again. In other ways it has reaffirmed things I was already doing without realising that were positive and embraced thinking again, and other aspects showed me where I could work to unlearn my biases and develop more dialog with myself and others. Thank you so much. I loved your other books and this one lived up to my expectations and some more!