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The Irrational Ape
- Narrated by: David Robert Grimes
- Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins
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The Irrational Ape
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Summary
The Irish Times Top-Five Best Seller.
Why did revolutionary China consider the sparrow an 'animal of capitalism' - and what happened when they tried to wipe them out? With a cast of murderous popes, snake-oil salesmen and superstitious pigeons, find out why flawed logic puts us all at risk and how critical thinking can save the world.
It may seem a big claim, but knowing how to think clearly and critically has literally helped save the world. In September 1983, at the height of the Cold War, the Soviet Union's early warning system showed five US missiles heading towards the country. Stanislaw Petrov knew his duty: he was to inform Moscow that nuclear war had begun, so that they could launch an immediate and devastating response. Instead, he made a call to say the system was faulty. He'd assessed the situation and reasoned that an error was more likely than such a limited attack.
We may not have to save the planet from nuclear annihilation, of course, but our ability to think critically has never been more important. In a world where fake news, mistrust of experts, prejudice and ignorance all too often hold sway, we can all too easily be misled over issues such as vaccinations, climate change or conspiracy theories. We live in an era where access to all the knowledge in the world is at our fingertips, yet that also means misinformation and falsehoods can spread further and faster than ever before.
In The Irrational Ape, David Robert Grimes shows how we can be lured into making critical mistakes or drawing false conclusions and how to avoid such errors. Given the power of modern science and the way that movements can unite to protest a cause via social media, we are in dangerous times. But fortunately, we can learn from our mistakes, and by critical thinking and scientific method, we can discover how to apply these techniques to everything from deciding what insurance to buy to averting global disaster.
This book, packed with fascinating case studies and examples, helps ensure we are ready for the modern world.
Critic reviews
"...If our leaders were forced to read this book, the world would be a safer place." (Richard Dawkins)
"A beautifully reasoned book about our own unreasonableness." (Robin Ince)
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What listeners say about The Irrational Ape
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 12-08-21
Best thing I have read/listened to this year (2021
such an important read at a crazy time in modern history when disinformation and conspiracy theories abound. I had lost my way a little in terms of not know true from false or misleading and David's book reignited my passion for science and the verifiable whilst also allowing me to forgive myself for going down a rabbit whole or two. David makes a huge subject matter fairly easily digestible. A very worthwhile read indeed.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Freneticmonk
- 13-02-20
A good book but...
I liked it really but there were a few sections where the author’s bias came through loud and clear. I would have thought that an author of a book about rational thought would try to eliminate as much emotive context as possible.
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Herniol
- 07-03-22
A panaceum for troubled times.
What a great read!
This book will give you the tools to distinguish bs from facts.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- superrstace
- 26-02-22
Prescribed reading!
Needed in the world of dis and mid information
I enjoyed the stories and analysis
I will question what I read and check my facts
And apply the analytical thinking suggested
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- guy blackwood
- 06-10-21
lacking clarity, but full of content
over dense, muddled, but full of interesting thought provoking stuff, maybe needed more editing.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- S. Macken
- 31-10-19
Thought provoking and needed.
While this book may never be read by those who most need to read it, those that are so wound up in their ideological beliefs that they define their sense of self by those ideologies, it is an invaluable exploration of why we think the way we do and how to counter the flaws in our thinking. It, and other books that promote reason and critical thinking, should be prescribed reading in schools but, unfortunately, the book burners amongst us would happily add it to their bonfires at the first available opportunity for promoting rational thought that questions their ideologies, and prevent these books from appearing on school curricula.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Phil
- 28-09-21
Brilliantly informative.
Well read by the man himself. :-)
Well laid out and great examples given to demonstrate the fallacies described.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Paddy McHugh
- 07-11-19
Should form part of the school curriculum
Essential reading required for everybody. Everybody should be made to question their beliefs and thoughts.
This book is excellently well put together and thought out.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Phillip
- 28-05-21
Outstanding from beginning to end !!!
I loved this book, one of the best I have ever listening to in this category. Amazingly written and narrated by Mr David Robert Grimes, thank you so much for writing this book and giving us hope!! I'm going to purchase some paperbacks to give to a few of my friends !!!
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- AS
- 29-09-21
A decent read
Good contents, but sometimes hard to follow. Not because of the contents, but because of the (un-needed) philosophical approach at times.
Failed to understand everytime the "so what" of certain parts.
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