You Are Not So Smart cover art

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

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About this listen

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 Consciousness & Thought Movements Personal Development Personal Success Philosophy Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Human Brain

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)
All stars
Most relevant
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.

Maybe a Little Smarter Now Than I Was Before

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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!

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

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

absolutely fantastic

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Great content that was helpful, useful and enlightening. Found myself nodding in agreement, smiling in amusement and shaking my head in self recognition.

Loved it from start to finish

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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".

Clever stuff!

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