Listen free for 30 days
-
Rationality
- What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Health & Wellness, Psychology & Mental Health
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Listen with a free trial
Buy Now for £25.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Enlightenment Now
- The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress
- By: Steven Pinker
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 19 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If you follow the headlines, the world in the 21st century appears to be sinking into chaos, hatred and irrationality. Yet, as Steven Pinker shows, if you follow the trendlines, you discover that our lives have become longer, healthier, safer and more prosperous - not just in the West but worldwide. Such progress is no accident: it's the gift of a coherent value system that many of us embrace without even realising it. These are the values of the Enlightenment: of reason, science, humanism and progress.
-
-
A must for everyone.
- By ANDREW NORRIS on 15-02-18
-
The Blank Slate
- The Modern Denial of Human Nature
- By: Steven Pinker
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 22 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Recently many people have assumed that we are blank slates shaped by our environment. But this denies the heart of our being: human nature. Violence is not just a product of society; male and female minds are different; the genes we give our children shape them more than our parenting practices. To acknowledge our innate abilities, Pinker shows, is not to condone inequality but to understand the very foundations of humanity.
-
-
The beautiful death of free will
- By Amazon Customer on 21-01-20
-
The Language Instinct
- How the Mind Creates Language
- By: Steven Pinker
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 18 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this classic, the world’s expert on language and mind lucidly explains everything you always wanted to know about language: how it works, how children learn it, how it changes, how the brain computes it, and how it evolved. With deft use of examples of humor and wordplay, Steven Pinker weaves our vast knowledge of language into a compelling story: language is a human instinct, wired into our brains by evolution. The Language Instinct received the William James Book Prize from the American Psychological Association....
-
-
lots of boring long lists
- By ([o_o]) on 28-09-20
-
Woke Racism
- How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America
- By: John McWhorter
- Narrated by: John McWhorter
- Length: 5 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Best-selling author and acclaimed linguist John McWhorter argues that an illiberal neoracism, disguised as antiracism, is hurting Black communities and weakening the social fabric. In Woke Racism, McWhorter reveals the workings of this new religion, from the original sin of 'white privilege' and the weaponisation of cancel culture to ban heretics, to the evangelical fervour of the 'woke mob'.
-
-
WOW! What an incredibly
- By Michael on 16-02-22
-
The War on the West
- How to Prevail in the Age of Unreason
- By: Douglas Murray
- Narrated by: Douglas Murray
- Length: 12 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The War on the West, international best-selling author Douglas Murray asks: if the history of humankind is a history of slavery, conquest, prejudice, genocide and exploitation, why are only Western nations taking the blame for it? It’s become, he explains, perfectly acceptable to celebrate the contributions of non-Western cultures, but discussing their flaws and crimes is called hate speech. What’s more it has become acceptable to discuss the flaws and crimes of Western culture, but celebrating their contributions is also called hate speech.
-
-
In the land of the blind …
- By theantlion on 01-05-22
-
Think with Pinker
- How to Be a Better Critical Thinker
- By: Steven Pinker
- Narrated by: Steven Pinker, full cast, Tim Harford, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 29 mins
- Highlights
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cognitive scientist Professor Steven Pinker has spent his life thinking about thinking, and now he wants us to join him. With the aid of his critical thinking toolkit, he hopes to help us make smarter choices, become more rational, gain a greater understanding of the confused world we live in—and maybe even become better citizens. In this fascinating series, produced in partnership with the Open University, he examines the different ways the human brain can be tripped up, from understanding probability to the difference between correlation and causation.
-
Enlightenment Now
- The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress
- By: Steven Pinker
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 19 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If you follow the headlines, the world in the 21st century appears to be sinking into chaos, hatred and irrationality. Yet, as Steven Pinker shows, if you follow the trendlines, you discover that our lives have become longer, healthier, safer and more prosperous - not just in the West but worldwide. Such progress is no accident: it's the gift of a coherent value system that many of us embrace without even realising it. These are the values of the Enlightenment: of reason, science, humanism and progress.
-
-
A must for everyone.
- By ANDREW NORRIS on 15-02-18
-
The Blank Slate
- The Modern Denial of Human Nature
- By: Steven Pinker
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 22 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Recently many people have assumed that we are blank slates shaped by our environment. But this denies the heart of our being: human nature. Violence is not just a product of society; male and female minds are different; the genes we give our children shape them more than our parenting practices. To acknowledge our innate abilities, Pinker shows, is not to condone inequality but to understand the very foundations of humanity.
-
-
The beautiful death of free will
- By Amazon Customer on 21-01-20
-
The Language Instinct
- How the Mind Creates Language
- By: Steven Pinker
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 18 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this classic, the world’s expert on language and mind lucidly explains everything you always wanted to know about language: how it works, how children learn it, how it changes, how the brain computes it, and how it evolved. With deft use of examples of humor and wordplay, Steven Pinker weaves our vast knowledge of language into a compelling story: language is a human instinct, wired into our brains by evolution. The Language Instinct received the William James Book Prize from the American Psychological Association....
-
-
lots of boring long lists
- By ([o_o]) on 28-09-20
-
Woke Racism
- How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America
- By: John McWhorter
- Narrated by: John McWhorter
- Length: 5 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Best-selling author and acclaimed linguist John McWhorter argues that an illiberal neoracism, disguised as antiracism, is hurting Black communities and weakening the social fabric. In Woke Racism, McWhorter reveals the workings of this new religion, from the original sin of 'white privilege' and the weaponisation of cancel culture to ban heretics, to the evangelical fervour of the 'woke mob'.
-
-
WOW! What an incredibly
- By Michael on 16-02-22
-
The War on the West
- How to Prevail in the Age of Unreason
- By: Douglas Murray
- Narrated by: Douglas Murray
- Length: 12 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The War on the West, international best-selling author Douglas Murray asks: if the history of humankind is a history of slavery, conquest, prejudice, genocide and exploitation, why are only Western nations taking the blame for it? It’s become, he explains, perfectly acceptable to celebrate the contributions of non-Western cultures, but discussing their flaws and crimes is called hate speech. What’s more it has become acceptable to discuss the flaws and crimes of Western culture, but celebrating their contributions is also called hate speech.
-
-
In the land of the blind …
- By theantlion on 01-05-22
-
Think with Pinker
- How to Be a Better Critical Thinker
- By: Steven Pinker
- Narrated by: Steven Pinker, full cast, Tim Harford, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 29 mins
- Highlights
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cognitive scientist Professor Steven Pinker has spent his life thinking about thinking, and now he wants us to join him. With the aid of his critical thinking toolkit, he hopes to help us make smarter choices, become more rational, gain a greater understanding of the confused world we live in—and maybe even become better citizens. In this fascinating series, produced in partnership with the Open University, he examines the different ways the human brain can be tripped up, from understanding probability to the difference between correlation and causation.
-
How the Mind Works
- By: Steven Pinker
- Narrated by: Mel Foster
- Length: 26 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this delightful, acclaimed bestseller, one of the world’s leading cognitive scientists tackles the workings of the human mind. What makes us rational—and why are we so often irrational? How do we see in three dimensions? What makes us happy, afraid, angry, disgusted, or sexually aroused? Why do we fall in love? And how do we grapple with the imponderables of morality, religion, and consciousness?
-
-
How the World Works
- By Judy Corstjens on 31-08-15
-
The Better Angels of Our Nature
- Why Violence Has Declined
- By: Steven Pinker
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 36 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Faced with the ceaseless stream of news about war, crime, and terrorism, one could easily think we live in the most violent age ever seen. Yet as New York Times bestselling author Steven Pinker shows in this startling and engaging new work, just the opposite is true: violence has been diminishing for millennia and we may be living in the most peaceful time in our species's existence.
-
-
A Magnum Opus in every sense!
- By Jeremy on 14-05-12
-
The Stuff of Thought
- Language as a Window into Human Nature
- By: Steven Pinker
- Narrated by: John Chancer
- Length: 21 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Steven Pinker looks at how the relationship between words and thoughts can help us understand who we are. Why do so many swear words involve topics like sex, bodily functions, or the divine? Why do some children's names thrive while others fall out of favour? Why do we threaten and bribe and seduce in such elaborate, often comical ways? How can a choice of metaphor damn a politician or start a war? And why do we rarely say what we actually mean?
-
-
Great for language enthusiasts!
- By Marie Čechová on 17-11-19
-
The Sense of Style
- The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century
- By: Steven Pinker
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bad writing can't be blamed on the internet or on 'the kids today'. Good writing has always been hard: a performance requiring pretence, empathy and a drive for coherence. In The Sense of Style, cognitive scientist and linguist Steven Pinker uses the latest scientific insights to bring us a style and usage guide for the 21st century.
-
-
The only grammar book I stuck to all the way
- By Marie Čechová on 22-11-19
-
A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century
- By: Heather Heying
- Narrated by: Bret Weinstein, Heather Heying
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A bold, provocative exploration of the tension between our evolutionary history and our modern woes and what we can do about it. We are living through the most prosperous age in all of human history, yet we are listless, divided and miserable. Wealth and comfort are unparalleled, but our political landscape is unmoored, and rates of suicide, loneliness and chronic illness continue to skyrocket.
-
-
More of the same
- By Mark Bannister on 14-10-21
-
Noise
- By: Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony, Cass R. Sunstein
- Narrated by: Todd Ross, Olivier Sibony, Daniel Kahneman
- Length: 14 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We like to think we make decisions based on good reasoning–and that our doctors, judges, politicians, economic forecasters and employers do too. In this groundbreaking book, three world-leading behavioural scientists come together to assess the last great fault in our collective decision-making: noise. We all make bad judgements more than we think. Noise shows us what we can do to make better ones.
-
-
Where there is judgment there is noise
- By papapownall on 21-05-21
-
Being You
- A New Science of Consciousness
- By: Professor Anil Seth
- Narrated by: Anil Seth
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Being you is not as simple as it sounds. Somehow, within each of our brains, billions of neurons create our everyday conscious experience. But how does this happen? Anil Seth's unique and groundbreaking theory of what it means to 'be you' challenges our understanding of perception and reality, doing for brain science what Dawkins did for evolutionary biology. Being You is an accessible, inspiring and eye-opening exploration of consciousness by one of the most remarkable pioneers working in science today.
-
-
A mind bending tour - science of consciousness
- By MR on 13-09-21
-
The Constitution of Knowledge
- A Defense of Truth
- By: Jonathan Rauch
- Narrated by: Traber Burns
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this pathbreaking book, Jonathan Rauch reaches back to the parallel 18th-century developments of liberal democracy and science to explain what he calls the “Constitution of Knowledge” - our social system for turning disagreement into truth. By explicating the Constitution of Knowledge and probing the war on reality, Rauch arms defenders of truth with a clearer understanding of what they must protect, why they must do - and how they can do it.
-
-
How to steer our course back to objective truth
- By Anonymous User on 05-03-22
-
The Republican Brain
- The Science of Why They Deny Science - and Reality
- By: Chris Mooney
- Narrated by: William Hughes
- Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Best-selling author Chris Mooney uses cutting-edge research to explain the psychology behind why today’s Republicans reject reality - it’s just part of who they are. From climate change to evolution, the rejection of mainstream science among Republicans is growing, as is the denial of expert consensus on the economy, American history, foreign policy, and much more. Why won’t Republicans accept things that most experts agree on? Why are they constantly fighting against the facts?
-
-
Informative rather than incendiary
- By Simon R Williams on 07-06-22
-
Sapiens
- By: Yuval Noah Harari
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 15 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Earth is 4.5 billion years old. In just a fraction of that time, one species among countless others has conquered it. Us. We are the most advanced and most destructive animals ever to have lived. What makes us brilliant? What makes us deadly? What makes us sapiens? In this bold and provocative audiobook, Yuval Noah Harari explores who we are, how we got here, and where we're going.
-
-
Simplistic nonsense
- By RTx on 14-07-19
-
The Sweet Spot
- Suffering, Pleasure and the Key to a Good Life
- By: Paul Bloom
- Narrated by: Sean Patrick Hopkins
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It seems obvious that pleasure leads to happiness - and pain does the opposite. And yet we are irresistibly drawn to a host of experiences that truly hurt, from the exhilarating fear of horror movies or extreme sport, to the wrenching sadness of a song or novel, to the gruelling challenges of exercise, work, creativity and having a family. In The Sweet Spot, pre-eminent psychologist Paul Bloom explores the pleasures of suffering and explains why the activities that provide most satisfaction are often the ones that involve greatest sacrifice.
-
-
Highly recommended!
- By Anonymous User on 17-03-22
-
The Righteous Mind
- Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion
- By: Jonathan Haidt
- Narrated by: Jonathan Haidt
- Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Righteous Mind, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt explores the origins of our divisions and points the way forward to mutual understanding. His starting point is moral intuition - the nearly instantaneous perceptions we all have about other people and the things they do. These intuitions feel like self-evident truths, making us righteously certain that those who see things differently are wrong. Haidt shows us how these intuitions differ across cultures, including the cultures of the political left and right.
-
-
It's like taking the red pill :)
- By beka on 06-06-18
Summary
Brought to you by Penguin.
Can reading a book make you more rational? Can it help you understand why there is so much irrationality in the world? These are the goals of Rationality, Steven Pinker's follow-up to Enlightenment Now.
In the 21st century, humanity is reaching new heights of scientific understanding - and, at the same time, appears to be losing its mind. How can a species that developed vaccines for COVID-19 in less than a year produce so much fake news, quack cures and conspiracy theorising?
Pinker rejects the cynical cliché that humans are an irrational species - cavemen out of time saddled with biases, fallacies and illusions. After all, we discovered the laws of nature, lengthened and enriched our lives and set the benchmarks for rationality itself. Instead, he explains that we think in ways that are sensible in the low-tech contexts in which we spend most of our lives, but fail to take advantage of the powerful tools of reasoning we have built up over the millennia: logic, critical thinking, probability, correlation and causation and decision-making. These tools are not a standard part of our educational curricula and have never been presented clearly and entertainingly in a single book - until now.
Rationality also explores its opposite: how the rational pursuit of self-interest, sectarian solidarity and uplifting mythology by individuals can add up to crippling irrationality in a society. Collective rationality depends on norms that are explicitly designed to promote objectivity and truth.
Rationality matters. It leads to better choices in our lives and in the public sphere, and is the ultimate driver of social justice and moral progress. Brimming with insight and humour, Rationality will enlighten, inspire and empower.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
More from the same
What listeners say about Rationality
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Beelzebub
- 17-10-21
Splendid!
Everyone should listen to this book. Sadly, the people who need it the most, won't.
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 11-10-21
Rationality
Classic Pinker. Illuminating, insightful, refreshing, fun. Brought to life with another brilliant performance by Arthur Morey.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Zak
- 11-01-22
Woke irrationality
For a book on rationality it had far too much left ideology. The examples given were to try and make you sound irrational for disliking hilary Clinton or the biden asministration among other things which is mental because America is undergoing their most irrational time due to Biden. As soon as I heard the phrase "mansplaining" the third time I had to stop. If you're looking for a book on rationality with no bias try 'the irrational ape'.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- DJ Ricks
- 14-12-21
Good book
A good book in general but don't listen to half awake! This book needs some serious concentration and for some of it a PDF to go though a long with the book. Not really one for the car but maybe some quite time and deep thinking. Great book just maybe not quite one 100% for me and my circumstances! Just maybe the voice acting could have been a little more upbeat to help with keeping me engaged but the overall concept, content and layout of the book was extremely good.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Paul La Femina
- 07-12-21
rational!
An excellent book well read that should be understood as best as possible by everyone.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 11-06-22
Brilliant as usual
First and last two chapters are the most accessible and entertaining. Middle ones will take longer to digest completely. Improves on listening a second time as so much is said here worth listening to well.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Nandu Pillai
- 23-04-22
Difficult audio book
An interesting topic approached from angles I hadn't considered before but you might be better off reading this one due to the use of multiple graphs, diagrams and statistics to get points across.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Pablo Gomez
- 18-04-22
Not really fit for an audio book
Due to the abundant references to visual materials, I didn't find this excellent book suited to be narrated. It needs to be read.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sergio Fontana
- 08-04-22
worst Pinker's book
i read 3other books of his and enjoyed them but this one is really a no go.
very little original thinking. a lot of repetition of material which has been better explained in other previous divulgative books.
the new ingredient ,not a good one to my taste, was quite some Harvard democrat moral
superiority complex and relative bullshit
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 20-12-21
Hard but good
Lots of hard stuff in here which doesn't lend itself to the format. But interesting nonetheless.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Joe Cincotta
- 16-04-22
An excellent book at a time it is needed
This book should be required reading in every first year undergrad course. For every degree. Actually, it should be bedtime reading for your primary school children if they can penetrate the language. They may even acquire a fondness for Yiddish humour.
This book penetrates some of the most challenging and seemingly unrelated subjects of our time and provides a kind of 'cognitive glue' to make sense of them as symptoms of something much more profound. Spoiler alert: it's rationality and our cognitive pitfalls - individually and at scale.
The book itself is a joy to listen to, the narrator channels Pinker's brilliant way of taking a complex subject and delivering it in a totally accessible way. I think you really need to get the PDF illustrations to make the most of the book, especially in probability discussions, however even without this - challenging concepts are broken up with analogies and humorous yet poignant asides.
overall, a highly recommended read.
1 person found this helpful