McRaney’s newest, a follow-up to 2012’s You Are Not So Smart, explores the ways in which the brain “cheats and edits and alters reality.” The Mississippi-based journalist and blogger ranges far and wide in his explication of various theories of individual and social psychology, in the process shedding light on the personal blind spots that skew reality while also allowing us to navigate it. In a section on “ego depletion,” the author walks readers through a recent study that tested the relationship between feelings of being excluded and eating habits. Turns out those in the ostracized test group, when presented with a bowl of cookies, just kept “mushing into their sad faces.” From there he goes on to discuss Freud’s theory of the ego and Henry David Thoreau’s decision to willfully exclude himself from society. That fusion of wry prose and enlightening minilessons is what makes this book so special—page after page, readers will be laughing, learning, and looking at themselves in new ways. McRaney is a fine stylist, easily balancing anecdote, analysis, and witty asides. Despite a flippant and self-helpy title, this book is seriously informative. (Aug.)
You Are Now Less Dumb: How to Conquer Mob Mentality, How to Buy Happiness, and All the Other Ways to Outsmart Yourself
Narrated by Don Hagen
David McRaneyUnabridged — 8 hours, 40 minutes
You Are Now Less Dumb: How to Conquer Mob Mentality, How to Buy Happiness, and All the Other Ways to Outsmart Yourself
Narrated by Don Hagen
David McRaneyUnabridged — 8 hours, 40 minutes
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Overview
Editorial Reviews
Praise for YOU ARE NOT SO SMART by David McRaney
"Every chapter is a welcome reminder that you are not so smart — yet you’re never made to feel dumb. You Are Not So Smart is a dose of psychology research served in tasty anecdotes that will make you better understand both yourself and the rest of us. You’ll find new perspectives on your relationships with people you know, people you don’t, and even brands. It turns out we’re much more irrational than most of us think, so give yourself every advantage you can and read this book."
— Alexis Ohanian, Co-Founder of Reddit.com
“You Are Not So Smart is positively one of the smartest books to come by this year — no illusion there.”
— Maria Popova of Brain Pickings
“Simply wonderful. An engaging and useful guide to how our brilliant brains can go badly wrong.”
— Richard Wiseman, bestselling author of 59 Seconds and Quirkology
“McRaney’s sweeping overview is like taking a Psych 101 class with a witty professor and zero homework.”
— Psychology Today
“You Are Not So Smart [is] the go-to blog for understanding why we all do silly things.”
— Lifehacker.com
“You’d think from the title that it might be curmudgeonly; in fact, You Are Not So Smart is quite big-hearted.”
— Jason Kottke, Kottke.org
“Want to get smarter quickly? Read this book”
— David Eagleman — neuroscientist and author of Incognito: The Secret Lives of the
“A much-needed field guide to the limits of our so-called consciousness. McRaney presents a witty case for just how witless we all are.”
— William Poundstone — bestselling author of Are you Smart Enough to Work at Googl
“Fascinating… After reading this book, you’ll never trust your brain again.”
— Alex Boese — bestselling author of Elephants on Acid and Electric Sheep
“Deflating to a certain audience that wants to believe in exceptions, You Are Not So Smart is a tonic to the noxious sweetness of overachievement, an acknowledgment of ordinariness that glories in the quirks of being human without forcing them into a triumphant pyramid. That which cannot be overcome is a part as vital to the human experience as that impulse to try even harder to overcome nature. And if that fails, the flip side to a population crediting itself with falsely inflated powers of observation is that no one might notice if you, too, are not so smart.”
— The Onion A.V. Club
“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, syndicated columnist, radio host and author of “Back to Our Future
“[The] fusion of wry prose and enlightening minilessons is what makes this book so special- page after page, readers will be laughing, learning, and looking at themselves in new ways. McRaney is a fine stylist, easily balancing anecdote, analysis, and witty asides… this book is seriously informative.”
—Publisher’s Weekly, Starred Review
“A lively look at our myriad self-delusions and how we can beat or exploit them.”
—Parade — Praise for You are Now Less Dumb
Want to get smarter quickly? Read this book”
[The] fusion of wry prose and enlightening minilessons is what makes this book so special- page after page, readers will be laughing, learning, and looking at themselves in new ways. McRaney is a fine stylist, easily balancing anecdote, analysis, and witty asides… this book is seriously informative.”
—Publisher’s Weekly, Starred Review
“A lively look at our myriad self-delusions and how we can beat or exploit them.”
—Parade
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.”
Deflating to a certain audience that wants to believe in exceptions, You Are Not So Smart is a tonic to the noxious sweetness of overachievement, an acknowledgment of ordinariness that glories in the quirks of being human without forcing them into a triumphant pyramid. That which cannot be overcome is a part as vital to the human experience as that impulse to try even harder to overcome nature. And if that fails, the flip side to a population crediting itself with falsely inflated powers of observation is that no one might notice if you, too, are not so smart.”
Fascinating… After reading this book, you’ll never trust your brain again.”
A much-needed field guide to the limits of our so-called consciousness. McRaney presents a witty case for just how witless we all are.”
You’d think from the title that it might be curmudgeonly; in fact, You Are Not So Smart is quite big-hearted.”
You Are Not So Smart [is] the go-to blog for understanding why we all do silly things.”
McRaney’s sweeping overview is like taking a Psych 101 class with a witty professor and zero homework.”
Simply wonderful. An engaging and useful guide to how our brilliant brains can go badly wrong.”
You Are Not So Smart is positively one of the smartest books to come by this year — no illusion there.”
Praise for YOU ARE NOT SO SMART by David McRaney
"Every chapter is a welcome reminder that you are not so smart — yet you’re never made to feel dumb. You Are Not So Smart is a dose of psychology research served in tasty anecdotes that will make you better understand both yourself and the rest of us. You’ll find new perspectives on your relationships with people you know, people you don’t, and even brands. It turns out we’re much more irrational than most of us think, so give yourself every advantage you can and read this book."
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940171415785 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Ascent Audio |
| Publication date: | 07/30/2013 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
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