You Are Not So Smart - The Library of the Uncommons

No cover — David McRaney: You Are Not So Smart (2012, Penguin Publishing Group)

English language

Published Nov. 13, 2012 by Penguin Publishing Group.

ISBN:: 978-1-59240-736-1

An entertaining illumination of the stupid beliefs that make us feel wise, based on the popular blog of the same name.

Whether you’re deciding which smartphone to purchase or which politician to believe, you think you are a rational being whose every decision is based on cool, detached logic. But here’s the truth: You are not so smart. You’re just as deluded as the rest of us—but that’s okay, because being deluded is part of being human.

Growing out of David McRaney’s popular blog, You Are Not So Smart reveals that every decision we make, every thought we contemplate, and every emotion we feel comes with a story we tell ourselves to explain them. But often these stories aren’t true. Each short chapter—covering topics such as Learned Helplessness, Selling Out, and the Illusion of Transparency—is like a psychology course with all the boring parts taken out.

Bringing …

An entertaining illumination of the stupid beliefs that make us feel wise, based on the popular blog of the same name.

Whether you’re deciding which smartphone to purchase or which politician to believe, you think you are a rational being whose every decision is based on cool, detached logic. But here’s the truth: You are not so smart. You’re just as deluded as the rest of us—but that’s okay, because being deluded is part of being human.

Growing out of David McRaney’s popular blog, You Are Not So Smart reveals that every decision we make, every thought we contemplate, and every emotion we feel comes with a story we tell ourselves to explain them. But often these stories aren’t true. Each short chapter—covering topics such as Learned Helplessness, Selling Out, and the Illusion of Transparency—is like a psychology course with all the boring parts taken out.

Bringing together popular science and psychology with humor and wit, You Are Not So Smart is a celebration of our irrational, thoroughly human behavior.

6 editions

Simon Vandereecken ~ Nithou reviewed You are not so smart by David McRaney

Review of 'You are Not So Smart' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This book felt like an endless streak of slap in the face of every bias one might have. I think I might have checked all of them, even the one I didn't think I had. This book does a really good job in explaining our common bias by providing solid links to scientifics studies and real life examples that we can all relate too. It's a great read if you want to learn more about your behavior or why you act the way you act.