Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • 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
  • By: David McRaney
  • Narrated by: Don Hagen
  • Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (471 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
You Are Not So Smart cover art

You Are Not So Smart

By: David McRaney
Narrated by: Don Hagen
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £17.99

Buy Now for £17.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

I Never Thought of It That Way cover art
Sold on Language cover art
Bernoulli's Fallacy cover art
Identity and Violence cover art
How the Mind Works cover art
How Our Brains Betray Us cover art
How to Overcome the Bully in Your Brain cover art
Brain Blunders: Uncover Everyday Illusions and Fallacies, Defeat Your Flawed Thinking Habits, and Think Smarter cover art
Mindwise cover art
Brain Bugs cover art
The Signal and the Noise cover art
Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me) cover art
The Memory Illusion cover art
The Case Against Reality cover art
Moral Animal cover art
Unf*ckology cover art

Summary

An entertaining illumination of the stupid beliefs that make us feel wise.

You believe you are a rational, logical being who sees the world as it really is, but journalist David McRaney is here to tell you that you're as deluded as the rest of us. But that's OK - delusions keep us sane. You Are Not So Smart is a celebration of self-delusion. It's like a psychology class, with all the boring parts taken out, and with no homework.Based on the popular blog of the same name, You Are Not So Smart collects more than 46 of the lies we tell ourselves everyday, including:

  • Dunbar's Number - Humans evolved to live in bands of roughly 150 individuals, the brain cannot handle more than that number. If you have more than 150 Facebook friends, they are surely not all real friends.
  • Hindsight bias - When we learn something new, we reassure ourselves that we knew it all along.
  • Confirmation bias - Our brains resist new ideas, instead paying attention only to findings that reinforce our preconceived notions.
  • Brand loyalty - We reach for the same brand not because we trust its quality but because we want to reassure ourselves that we made a smart choice the last time we bought it.

©2011 David McRaney (P)2011 Gildan Media Corp

Critic reviews

"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, author of Back to Our Future: How the 1980s Explain the World We Live In Now)

What listeners say about You Are Not So Smart

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    276
  • 4 Stars
    145
  • 3 Stars
    31
  • 2 Stars
    13
  • 1 Stars
    6
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    209
  • 4 Stars
    99
  • 3 Stars
    33
  • 2 Stars
    8
  • 1 Stars
    3
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    214
  • 4 Stars
    104
  • 3 Stars
    22
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    5

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Maybe a Little Smarter Now Than I Was Before

An excellent entertaining and informative listen.
Delivered in a laid-back style that seems to really suit the material. Lots of fact mixed in with a dry sense of humour that worked well in keeping my interest throughout. While I've heard a lot of the content before, I've never heard it all in one place or with such a witty and entertaining presentation.
Well worth the listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Psychology made easy (and fun)

The narrative was monotone so early into the book I was concerned that would make it a grind to get through. Even the humour and occasional swearing don't deviate much from the baseline. However, that was easily counter-balanced by the excellent material. The book is in bite size chunks and while I really wanted to remember the names for each term described they were soon forgotten, in most cases they are clarifiedwith an easy to understand real life example.

I particularly liked the section on branding and definitely more aware of how we are all being played like pawns. Pespi or Coke, Apple or Microsoft. Likelihood is you are an avid fan of one, why is that? Just one of the things which the book sets off a lightbulb.

One of the few books I'd probably go back and listen to again. I imagine as a "read" its 5 stars but just 4 from me because of the delivery.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Disappointing read

The title and synopsis sounded so interesting, but the further I got through it, the more I resent having lost hours of listening to this book.

Initially the book's premise is interesting, however the further you progress the more you realise that there's a good reason that people in general don't notice these subtle flaws in human nature -- because its easier to progress through life not beleiving you are as selfish, egocentric and predictable as everyone else.

Sadly Don Hagen's narration is monotonous and uninspiring as the book. My main critism is that the author glosses over good nature and avoids giving recommendations to become better people - which seems like a missed opportunity in such a negative book.

My advice: Go read a cheerful book full of escapism and good nature instead. You might be less enlightened, but you'll feel better for it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Smug but fun

A little too smug for its own good, but fun and insightful.
We really are a bunch of numpties...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing

This is one of the most played books in my Audible library. In fact It is currently the MOST played book in my library. Lots of food for thought, and offers you a new way to look at yourself. YOU are not so smart.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

I'm not so smart

Great book to follow the excellent blog. Essential management reading because none of us are as smart as we think we tend to think we are.
@upfinder

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

What a great book!

In my view this is a great book about the way the mind works. Every chapter is packed full of interesting and amusing explanantions about how and why we human beings act the way we do. The laid-back narration by Don Hagen makes it even better. I can highly recommend this great audio book and I would add that it's one of the most fascinating I've listen to on audible after 7 years of membership.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Clever stuff!

I really enjoyed this book, well, my flawed memory tells me I did! You learn so much about why people behave the way they do ... then about half way through, the author tells you that you are the same, to the extent that all the way through you have convinced yourself that you are not like everybody else - proving that in fact, you are!!!
Complex psychological subjects are dealt with using a minimum of jargon, so you don't need a psychology Phd to understand it. The examples are underscored with examples of past experiments on hapless subjects all delivered with a wry humour, occassionally ireverant.
The explanations have a ring of truth resonating throughout, so that you find yourself smiling in recognition and occassionally laughing out loud.
My only reason for a 4 out of 5 is that I would have liked some advice on how not to be quite such a moron as we, as a species, seem to be ... that said, a fascinating "read".

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

absolutely fantastic

a great book well performed definitely one I'll be listening too again. truly thought provoking

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars
  • E
  • 07-07-14

Explains a lot of things I thought but didn't know

Would you listen to You Are Not So Smart again? Why?

Yes as there is so much to take in - should really listen to it in parts next and consider each idea as it's explained

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I wouldn't - happy with it as it was

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

Yes - I really liked the narrators tone - it made it sound exciting and easy to listen to and understand.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. So much to think over it would have been a waste to have it all read in one go.

Any additional comments?

Very enjoyable, interesting and educating!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful