Barbara L. (Barbllm) reviewed 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 on + 241 more book reviews
Binding psychological insight with humor and wit, the author shows clearly how easily we are misled by our hearts and minds on a daily basis, despite our believing otherwise. He covers several well-known logical fallacies and biases, as well as other behaviors like procrastination and introspection.
Maura (maura853) -
Whirlwind tour of concepts in psychology that explain how and why our brain plays tricks on us. Interesting, but not half as hilarious as the author thinks it is.
I am judging this book harshly. I know that. (I may not be so smart, but I am that smart ...) First, I'm judging it harshly because I bought it on false pretenses, thinking it was a Real Book (TM), rather than a collection of blog posts. As a collection of blog posts, it lives up (down) to expectations ... just about.
Second, I am judging this book harshly because, I admit that it was probably a mistake to read it on my Kindle. It is probably a book that is better as a "dipping in" book -- leafing through it until you find a chapter that catches your fancy; going back to re-read chapters on topics that have begin to resonate. You can't do that with Kindle, so I'm very conscious that, although McRaney had some interesting things to say, and cast light on some intriguing ways that our brains fool us, and how we are, indeed, not as smart as we think we are ... I can barely remember a single one. Like water off a duck's back.
I am judging this book harshly. I know that. (I may not be so smart, but I am that smart ...) First, I'm judging it harshly because I bought it on false pretenses, thinking it was a Real Book (TM), rather than a collection of blog posts. As a collection of blog posts, it lives up (down) to expectations ... just about.
Second, I am judging this book harshly because, I admit that it was probably a mistake to read it on my Kindle. It is probably a book that is better as a "dipping in" book -- leafing through it until you find a chapter that catches your fancy; going back to re-read chapters on topics that have begin to resonate. You can't do that with Kindle, so I'm very conscious that, although McRaney had some interesting things to say, and cast light on some intriguing ways that our brains fool us, and how we are, indeed, not as smart as we think we are ... I can barely remember a single one. Like water off a duck's back.
