Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Good Thinking is our best defense against anti-vaccine paranoia, climate denial, and other dire threats of today In a world where cries of "fake news" and mistrust of experts often hold sway, we can be misled all too easily. Consider: Wi-Fi is radiation. Some cancers are caused by radiation. Thus, Wi-Fi causes cancer. Sound convincing?
In Good Thinking, David Robert Grimes helps us identify seductive and destructive bad logic. Take the "fallacy of the undistributed middle" The ancient Greek philosophers are dead. Jimi Hendrix is dead. Thus, Jimi Hendrix was a Greek philosopher. In closing such logical loopholes, Grimes dismantles dangerous conspiracy theories and common misconceptions. (Wi-Fi does not cause cancer, and Hendrix did not jam with Socrates.)
Packed with fascinating characters--from a murderous pope to a superstitious pigeon--Good Thinking can help us fight willful ignorance and plain old irrationality in all its forms.
Synopsis
Good Thinking is our best defense against anti-vaccine paranoia, climate denial, and other dire threats of today In our ever-more-polarized society, there's at least one thing we still agree on: The world is overrun with misinformation, faulty logic, and the gullible followers who buy into it all. Of course, we're not among them--are we?
Scientist David Robert Grimes is on a mission to expose the logical fallacies and cognitive biases that drive our discourse on a dizzying array of topics-from vaccination to abortion, 9/11 conspiracy theories to dictatorial doublespeak, astrology to alternative medicine, and wrongful convictions to racism. But his purpose in Good Thinking isn't to shame or place blame. Rather, it's to interrogate our own assumptions-to develop our eye for the glimmer of truth in a vast sea of dubious sources-in short, to think critically.
Grimes's expert takedown of irrationality is required reading for anyone wondering why bad thinking persists and how we can defeat it. Ultimately, no one changes anyone else's mind; we can only change our own-and give others the tools to do the same.
Synopsis
Good Thinking is our best defense against anti-vaccine paranoia, climate denial, and other dire threats of today Publisher's Note: Good Thinking was previously published in the UK as The Irrational Ape.
In our ever-more-polarized society, there's at least one thing we still agree on: The world is overrun with misinformation, faulty logic, and the gullible followers who buy into it all. Of course, we're not among them--are we?
Scientist David Robert Grimes is on a mission to expose the logical fallacies and cognitive biases that drive our discourse on a dizzying array of topics-from vaccination to abortion, 9/11 conspiracy theories to dictatorial doublespeak, astrology to alternative medicine, and wrongful convictions to racism. But his purpose in Good Thinking isn't to shame or place blame. Rather, it's to interrogate our own assumptions-to develop our eye for the glimmer of truth in a vast sea of dubious sources-in short, to think critically.
Grimes's expert takedown of irrationality is required reading for anyone wondering why bad thinking persists and how we can defeat it. Ultimately, no one changes anyone else's mind; we can only change our own-and give others the tools to do the same.
Synopsis
Publisher's Note: Good Thinking was previously published in the UK as The Irrational Ape.
In our ever-more-polarized society, there's at least one thing we still agree on: The world is overrun with misinformation, faulty logic, and the gullible followers who buy into it all. Of course, we're not among them--are we?
Scientist David Robert Grimes is on a mission to expose the logical fallacies and cognitive biases that drive our discourse on a dizzying array of topics-from vaccination to abortion, 9/11 conspiracy theories to dictatorial doublespeak, astrology to alternative medicine, and wrongful convictions to racism. But his purpose in Good Thinking isn't to shame or place blame. Rather, it's to interrogate our own assumptions-to develop our eye for the glimmer of truth in a vast sea of dubious sources-in short, to think critically.
Grimes's expert takedown of irrationality is required reading for anyone wondering why bad thinking persists and how we can defeat it. Ultimately, no one changes anyone else's mind; we can only change our own-and give others the tools to do the same.