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Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
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You are Now Less Dumb summary
David McRaney
How to Conquer Mob Mentality, How to Buy Happiness, and All the Other Ways to Outsmart Yourself
4 (34 ratings)
21 mins
10 key ideas
Audio & text
What is You are Now Less Dumb about?
You Are Now Less Dumb provides thought-provoking studies and examples on how our brains often misguide us. It also enlightens readers with tips on how to uncover these unfounded beliefs and find out what’s actually happening in and around us.
About the Author
David McRaney is the author of the popular blog You Are Not So Smart, which became a best-selling book of the same name. McRaney has also worked as a reporter, editor, TV host and public speaker. McRaney lives in Mississippi with his wife.
Table of Contents
You are Now Less Dumb
summarized in 10 key ideas
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Key idea 1 of 10
Your brain fools you everyday – without you even realizing it!
Every day, your brain tricks you into believing the strangest things. Similar to an optical illusion, our brains often deceive us – even when we’re pretty sure what we’re observing is the truth.
And though we like to think our thoughts and decisions are grounded in logic and rationality – often they’re not.
Our perception of the world is unique to each of us. The way we experience the sight and smell of a flower, for example, is not the way a bee experiences it. Therefore, we can’t always trust that what we see or sense is the only truth.
For example, in 1951, after an important football match between Dartmouth College and Princeton University, during which both teams struggled and Princeton ended up victorious, both schools published articles about it in their college newsletters.
But it seemed, based on the newsletters, as though the two schools had witnessed entirely different matches. Princeton students accused their rivals of being uncivilized, while Dartmouth students reported that both teams were to blame and that the game had been altogether fair.
Psychologists decided to look into this discrepancy and had students fill out questionnaires about the game. They concluded that the students had alternate versions of reality depending on their attitude and the school they supported.
Although all the students had watched the same game, not unlike the above difference between the perception of a bee and a human, they interpreted what they witnessed in entirely different ways.
Now, most of us know that what we see is not always the absolute truth. Yet, under certain circumstances, such as watching an important sports game, we often fail to remember this. In order to become less naive, we need to be aware of this – at least some of the time.
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Best quote from You are Now Less Dumb
Post hoc rationalization is the fairy godmother of all things inaccurate, non-scientific, mystical, mythological and superstitious.
—David McRaney
Who should read You are Now Less Dumb
- Anyone who wants to feel a little bit smarter
- Anyone interested in how our minds play tricks on us
- Anyone interested in psychology
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