You Are Not So Smart

Publisher's Summary

An entertaining illumination of the stupid beliefs that make us feel wise.

You believe you are a rational, logical being who sees the world as it really is, but journalist David McRaney is here to tell you that you're as deluded as the rest of us. But that's OK - delusions keep us sane. You Are Not So Smart is a celebration of self-delusion. It's like a psychology class, with all the boring parts taken out, and with no homework.Based on the popular blog of the same name, You Are Not So Smart collects more than 46 of the lies we tell ourselves everyday, including:

• Dunbar's Number - Humans evolved to live in bands of roughly 150 individuals, the brain cannot handle more than that number. If you have more than 150 Facebook friends, they are surely not all real friends.
• Hindsight bias - When we learn something new, we reassure ourselves that we knew it all along.
• Confirmation bias - Our brains resist new ideas, instead paying attention only to findings that reinforce our preconceived notions.
• Brand loyalty - We reach for the same brand not because we trust its quality but because we want to reassure ourselves that we made a smart choice the last time we bought it.

©2011 David McRaney (P)2011 Gildan Media Corp

Critic Reviews

"In an Idiocracy dominated by cable TV bobbleheads, government propagandists, and corporate spinmeisters, many of us know that mass ignorance is a huge problem. Now, thanks to David McRaney's mind-blowing book, we can finally see the scientific roots of that problem. Anybody still self-aware enough to wonder why society now worships willful stupidity should read this book." ( David Sirota, author of Back to Our Future: How the 1980s Explain the World We Live In Now)

It's official, I'm an idiot

I think it's safe to say that I found myself park in my car, sitting with the door ajar, still listening to this book more than any other book I've listened to. The format is very simple and it's conveyed in such a way that laypeople like me can feel smart for understanding it's complexity. [cute play on words huh?]

It's an amazing book of self deprecation, of laughing at yourself as you drive because you do the exact same thing the book is describing, word for word and you did it just this morning and you thought you were so clever when you did it. The man who reads it does a superb job and is just as effective as hooking you as the book itself.

It's also a real and serious help if you at all interested in working on yourself in a way that isn't something touchy feely and an even better way to understand and gain empathy about all of us and why we do the stupid s**t we do.

You can listen to this book in the same way you watch "How do They Make That" documentaries on the Science Channel and get some great information out of it and/or as a book that can help you identify deeper thought issues you might have.

95 of 100 people found this review helpful

Hopefully I am a LITTLE smarter now!

This is an audiobook I wish I owned in book form.

There are so many interesting snippets of information that I would like to go back and read again, so a table of contents would be immensely helpful!! It’s a very fun and intriguing book, full of “common sense” yet it makes you stop and reflect on your own behaviours and why you act the way you act and do the things you do. Lots of “nod your head in agreement” moments.

The set up is very simple to follow and it’s an easy and fast read – naturally, given that it’s a book about the psychology of human behaviour so they KNOW what format is going to work!

Learning about Priming, Confirmation Bias and Ad Hominem Fallacy to name a few, I saw a lot of myself in here and you will too! I laughed out loud at the chapter that explains why my books-to-read list (and the kind of books on it) is so long! But to my previous point: I don’t have a table of contents available so I can’t tell you what it’s called!!

35 of 37 people found this review helpful

Yes, I Get It. I'm Dumb. Good Book Though.

I loved this book. I found the presentation of facts interesting and amusing. The author has a kind of tongue -in -cheek sense of humor (which I love). He uses this wit to convey an enormous amount of very useful information, all the while proving his point, that yes indeed I'm not that smart.

I enjoyed this book as much if not more than "The Power Of Habit". Both of these books were well worth the credits.

20 of 21 people found this review helpful

Should Be Required Reading Before Voting

It doesn't hurt to be humbled occasionally. As we listen to those confident so called experts who confirm our political biases during an election cycle, knowing the information from this book could help us take a step backwards and reevaluate.

I recommended this to my daughter and we had a great discussion about how people can be manipulated and how difficult it is to really have an open mind on some of the topics we supposedly have solved and take for granted.

I may not ultimately have budged from some of my biases, but my conceit about being right has taken a blow and that is a good thing.

64 of 70 people found this review helpful

Enjoyable, but needs more concrete recommendations

Would you recommend You Are Not So Smart to your friends? Why or why not?

This book describes the working of the mind (as discovered through research) in a fun and entertaining way. I like how the author broke it down into 46 distinct mental processes that the normal person might not understand is going on in his/her own mind, some of which can lead us into some strange and unproductive behaviors.

My only criticism is that the bits of real-world application that the author provides at the end of each process/chapter could be expounded upon with some more concrete actions to take to ensure you don't fall victim to your own mental processes.

17 of 18 people found this review helpful

Covers a lot of old territory

While this book makes for a breezy listen, a lot of what is contained within will be old news to many readers. If you know what a straw man argument and an ad hominem attack are, have read too many descriptions of the marshmallow experiment and the Standford prison experiment and are just plain tired of Milgram this book is probably not for you. While there were certainly many sections that contained information that I was previously unaware of the amount of the content that I already knew ruined this for me.

This book comes from the author of a blog of the same name, and it shows. The chapters read like blog posts, tending to lack depth, and the flow between chapters is choppy at times. However, it's an easy read, and a good introductory look at some of work that has been done in psychology in the past century.

119 of 132 people found this review helpful

. . . but you'll sound smarter!

If I'd followed some of the arguments in David McRaney's "You Are Not So Smart: Why You Have Too Many Friends on Facebook, Why Your Memory Is Mostly Fiction, and 46 Other Ways You're Deluding Yourself" (2011) I wouldn't be writing this (or any other) review, because the very act of trying to explain it would change the way I feel about it; and how can someone really understand someone else's feelings? And how do you describe the color red, anyway?

This book is marketed alternately as sociology and social sciences (Audible), cognitive psychology (Google Books), humanism (Amazon) and humor (Barnes & Noble). "You Are Not So Smart" is a collection of concepts from all of these disciplines, with brief explanations and anecdotes describing the theories.

Some of McRaney's observations are tried and true, like the lessons from Yale University Professor Stanley Milgram's 1961-1963 experiments on 'Obedience to Authority'. (Which raised a question: it's been 50 years - maybe American moral and social conditions have changed, and analogous experiments would have different results?). Other theories McRaney sets forth are not as widely discussed as they should be, such as "The Ad Hominem Fallacy" Ch. 17 - if you don't like the messenger, the message isn't valid. "The Just-World Fallacy" Ch. 16, is another. Sure, it would be nice if the world were fair - but sometimes, good people fail and bad people get ahead. "The Spotlight Effect" Ch. 29 was especially helpful - you may feel everyone can read your mind and know how nervous you are in a social situation, but no one is really psychic.

Other concepts are valid, but McRaney makes them seem as if they are the only answer to a complex problem. "The Normalcy Bias" Ch. 7 is an example. That's the concept when people faced with a dangerous situation, like Hurricane Katrina, pretend - or believe - the situation isn't going to be that bad. That's an explanation for why people don't prepare and take shelter, but it's not the only one: other factors, such as many previous false alarms and a lack of effective communications, among other things, contribute to a deadly problem.

"You Are Not So Smart" is an easy, general introduction to psychology and social sciences. Listen, and you can carry on at least a superficial conversation about 46 different topics.

[If this review helped, please press YES. Thanks!]

100 of 111 people found this review helpful

Great

To find a book that points out how bugged is your cognitive system without really annoying you is always a great find. Well written and very well presented.
However, if you are already familiar with some cognitive biases, heuristics and fallacies you will find some chapters "old news"... that is how exhaustive it is!

14 of 15 people found this review helpful

Fast and to the Point!

Would you listen to You Are Not So Smart again? Why?

I am listening to again right now so I can take notes and impress/annoy my friends with my new-found knowledge

Who was your favorite character and why?

Uhh.. wrong genre

What about Don Hagen’s performance did you like?

Was fine

If you could give You Are Not So Smart a new subtitle, what would it be?

The title is really poor- I would have called

Any additional comments?

One of my new favorite books! This was one of those rare times where I have ten books to read but as soon as I finished this one I had to put every other book on hold just so I could read this one a second time. The book is a long list of thinking errors that most or arguably all people use unconsciously. If you read these kinds of books a lot you will spot a lot of familiar studies and there is a lot borrowed from the book “How we Decide” but everything is explained in terms simple enough for a ten year old to understand. Long stories are shortened to a sentence or two and the overall tone of the book is very fun and fast. No more long drawn out life stories just to tell the brain damage story at the end- this book is dense with fun information that you can apply right away to your own life. One of the major themes of the book is that we tend to make decisions about things first and then come up with reasons to justify it- and the reasons are mostly garbage. First the movie is bad- then we might make up something about the director or unclear motivations but really that is all stuff we make up to justify the initial “confirmation bias” and the examples of this are stunning. Highly recommended for all ages and experience levels.

29 of 32 people found this review helpful

Great summary of years of research

Any additional comments?

This book is filled with great information about how we humans work based on many different researches throughout the world and the years. Some topics are covered by other books in greater depth, but I found that here you have just the right amount of explanation to understand what's going on and with a bit of humour to add to it.If you read other books on Human behavior and how the brain works, some info here may be repeated, but if not, I highly recommend you listen to this and you'll be surprised at how we deceive ourselves in so many different fronts.The only thing I wish there was is a PDF with a summary of the 46 chapters (maybe just the chapter name, even). It would greatly help remembering everything we learned.

10 of 11 people found this review helpful

Maybe a Little Smarter Now Than I Was Before

An excellent entertaining and informative listen.
Delivered in a laid-back style that seems to really suit the material. Lots of fact mixed in with a dry sense of humour that worked well in keeping my interest throughout. While I've heard a lot of the content before, I've never heard it all in one place or with such a witty and entertaining presentation.
Well worth the listen.

13 of 13 people found this review helpful

Amazing

This is one of the most played books in my Audible library. In fact It is currently the MOST played book in my library. Lots of food for thought, and offers you a new way to look at yourself. YOU are not so smart.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

I'm not so smart

Great book to follow the excellent blog. Essential management reading because none of us are as smart as we think we tend to think we are.
@upfinder

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Psychology made easy (and fun)

The narrative was monotone so early into the book I was concerned that would make it a grind to get through. Even the humour and occasional swearing don't deviate much from the baseline. However, that was easily counter-balanced by the excellent material. The book is in bite size chunks and while I really wanted to remember the names for each term described they were soon forgotten, in most cases they are clarifiedwith an easy to understand real life example.

I particularly liked the section on branding and definitely more aware of how we are all being played like pawns. Pespi or Coke, Apple or Microsoft. Likelihood is you are an avid fan of one, why is that? Just one of the things which the book sets off a lightbulb.

One of the few books I'd probably go back and listen to again. I imagine as a "read" its 5 stars but just 4 from me because of the delivery.

9 of 10 people found this review helpful

Smug but fun

A little too smug for its own good, but fun and insightful.
We really are a bunch of numpties...

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

What a great book!

In my view this is a great book about the way the mind works. Every chapter is packed full of interesting and amusing explanantions about how and why we human beings act the way we do. The laid-back narration by Don Hagen makes it even better. I can highly recommend this great audio book and I would add that it's one of the most fascinating I've listen to on audible after 7 years of membership.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Clever stuff!

I really enjoyed this book, well, my flawed memory tells me I did! You learn so much about why people behave the way they do ... then about half way through, the author tells you that you are the same, to the extent that all the way through you have convinced yourself that you are not like everybody else - proving that in fact, you are!!!
Complex psychological subjects are dealt with using a minimum of jargon, so you don't need a psychology Phd to understand it. The examples are underscored with examples of past experiments on hapless subjects all delivered with a wry humour, occassionally ireverant.
The explanations have a ring of truth resonating throughout, so that you find yourself smiling in recognition and occassionally laughing out loud.
My only reason for a 4 out of 5 is that I would have liked some advice on how not to be quite such a moron as we, as a species, seem to be ... that said, a fascinating "read".

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

absolutely fantastic

a great book well performed definitely one I'll be listening too again. truly thought provoking

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Explains a lot of things I thought but didn't know

Would you listen to You Are Not So Smart again? Why?

Yes as there is so much to take in - should really listen to it in parts next and consider each idea as it's explained

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I wouldn't - happy with it as it was

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

Yes - I really liked the narrators tone - it made it sound exciting and easy to listen to and understand.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. So much to think over it would have been a waste to have it all read in one go.

Any additional comments?

Very enjoyable, interesting and educating!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Eye opening...

I was never into psychology and all that social science stuff, but this book really blew my mind away, it opened my eyes to so many things we humans do but never notice, it's amazing really the book doesn't tell you something "new" but it's all things that have been happening right in front of you and you never noticed them...



It's a great read for everyone, I highly recommend it...

1 of 1 people found this review helpful