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Loading... The Art of Thinking Clearly (original 2011; edition 2013)by Rolf Dobelli (Author)
Work InformationThe Art of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli (2011)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. I’ve been intrigued by the way people think since I was a very young adult. I even made a professional career out of dissecting people’s faulty thinking and teaching them how to challenge those irrational thoughts. So, I’m always interested in learning more thinking errors for my own personal growth as well as the population I serve. Rolf Dobelli is a Swiss author who originally began his writing career as a novelist. In The Art of Thinking Clearly, Dobelli examines the cognitive biases, or thinking errors, we engage on a daily basis. I listened to the audiobook and can definitely see how a physical copy of this book would be super helpful. He identifies 99 cognitive biases in relatively short chapters. The large number of errors discussed in audio format made it difficult for me to remember them for the best application. Dobelli explains each concept thoroughly and provides understandable and relatable examples. There are times where he uses math, statistics, and probabilities to illustrate his point. Well, I have a serious aversion to anything math related. I suck at it and likely always will. So, those examples were naturally hard for me, but may be very helpful for others skilled with numbers. Overall, I enjoyed this and am glad I read it.
Have you ever . . . Invested time in something that, in hindsight, just wasn't worth it? Paid too much in an eBay auction? Continued to do something you knew was bad for you? Sold stocks too late, or too early? Taken credit for success, but blamed failure on external circumstances? Backed the wrong horse? These are examples of what the author calls cognitive biases, simple errors all of us make in day-to-day thinking. But by knowing what they are and how to identify them, we can avoid them and make better choices: whether in dealing with personal problems or business negotiations, trying to save money or earn profits, or merely working out what we really want in life-and strategizing the best way to get it. Already an international bestseller, The Art of Thinking Clearly distills cutting-edge research from behavioral economics, psychology, and neuroscience into a clever, practical guide for anyone who's ever wanted to be wiser and make better decisions. A novelist, thinker, and entrepreneur, Rolf Dobelli deftly shows that in order to lead happier, more prosperous lives, we don't need extra cunning, new ideas, shiny gadgets, or more frantic hyperactivity-all we need is less irrationality. Simple, clear, and always surprising, this indispensable book will change the way you think and transform your decision making-at work, at home, every day. From why you shouldn't accept a free drink to why you should walk out of a movie you don't like, from why it's so hard to predict the future to why you shouldn't watch the news, The Art of Thinking Clearly helps solve the puzzle of human reasoning. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)153.4Philosophy and Psychology Psychology Cognition And Memory Thought, thinking, reasoning, intuition, value, judgmentLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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I’d read three already (and can only really recommend one of those, McRaven’s Make Your Bed), so I decided to see if there was any merit to the rest of the stack. I tried to imagine what a twenty-something me would take away, and of course, the current me informs how I read it now.
As I make my way through the list, I’ve mentally sorted them into “No”, “Qualified No”, “Qualified Yes”, “Yes” categories. One of the books gave me pause and I had to add a new category: “Not Only No, But…”.
This one is a Qualified Maybe* One of the best things Mr. Dobelli says in this book is “This is not a how-to book. You won’t find “seven steps to an error-free life” here.” Yet, I guess all or most of the 99 essays came from blog posts, which might explain the short, attempted everyman approach with a veneer of accessibility dressing that doesn’t quite cut it.
Dobelli also says in his Epilogue, “I have listed almost one hundred thinking errors in this book without answering the question: What are thinking errors anyway? What is irrationality? Why do we fall into these traps? ”
What he also doesn’t do is explain the fallacies, biases, heuristics very well, and he has scattershot examples for each of his targets that don’t always follow… he does a poor job of tying together those examples (the short format might be to blame.) I think a good example would be his essay on the clustering illusion and references to pareidolia without identifying it (save a poor example in his notes). He jumps off that into seeing patterns where they aren’t before redeeming himself (this time) with “When it comes to pattern recognition, we are oversensitive. Regain your skepticism. If you think you have discovered a pattern, first consider it pure chance. If it seems too good to be true, find a mathematician and have the data tested statistically. And if the crispy parts of your pancake start to look a lot like Jesus’s face, ask yourself: If he really wants to reveal himself, why doesn’t he do it in Times Square or on CNN?”
As a book on critical thinking, its chief value is in applying your knowledge of critical thinking to what he has cobbled together. But be warned, you’ll soon tire of having to check pretty much everything he says.
So, Qualified Maybe if you want to bounce your learning off of a different book, but look elsewhere if you want to learn about logical fallacies. ( )