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David McRaney

You Are Not So Smart: Why You Have Too Many Friends on Facebook, Why Your Memory Is Mostly Fiction, an d 46 Other Ways You're Deluding Yourself Paperback – November 6, 2012

by David McRaney (Author)

1,242 ratings

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An entertaining illumination of the stupid beliefs that make us feel wise, based on the popular blog of the same name.

Whether you’re deciding which smartphone to purchase or which politician to believe, you think you are a rational being whose every decision is based on cool, detached logic. But here’s the truth: You are not so smart. You’re just as deluded as the rest of us—but that’s okay, because being deluded is part of being human.

Growing out of David McRaney’s popular blog, You Are Not So Smart reveals that every decision we make, every thought we contemplate, and every emotion we feel comes with a story we tell ourselves to explain them. But often these stories aren’t true. Each short chapter—covering topics such as Learned Helplessness, Selling Out, and the Illusion of Transparency—is like a psychology course with all the boring parts taken out.

Bringing together popular science and psychology with humor and wit, You Are Not So Smart is a celebration of our irrational, thoroughly human behavior.

Print length

320 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Avery
Publication date

November 6, 2012
Dimensions

5 x 0.82 x 7.5 inches
ISBN-10

1592407366
ISBN-13

978-1592407361
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Every chapter is a welcome reminder that you are not so smart-yet you're never made to feel dumb. You Are Not So Smart is a dose of psychology research served in tasty anecdotes that will make you better understand both yourself and the rest of us. It turns out we're much more irrational than most of us think, so give yourself every advantage you can and read this book." — Alexis Ohanian, Co-Founder of Reddit.com

"You Are Not So Smart is the go-to blog for understanding why we all do silly things." — Lifehacker.com

"You'd think from the title that it might be curmudgeonly; in fact, You Are Not So Smart is quite big-hearted." — Jason Kottke, Kottke.org

"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

About the Author

A two-time winner of the William Randolph Hearst Award, journalist David McRaney writes the blog youarenotsosmart.com. A self-described psychology nerd, he lives in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Product details

Publisher : Avery; Reprint edition (November 6, 2012)
Language : English
Paperback : 320 pages
ISBN-10 : 1592407366
ISBN-13 : 978-1592407361
Item Weight : 8.8 ounces
Dimensions : 5 x 0.82 x 7.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #57,175 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #35 in Humanist Philosophy
- #269 in Humor Essays (Books)
- #323 in Self-Help & Psychology Humor

Customer Reviews:
1,242 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		68%
4 star		19%
3 star		9%
2 star		3%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Knight_of_light

Poorly written manipulative literary garbage

Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2019

Verified Purchase

I have read about it on LinkedIn and was really inerested to read it. Bad decision

This "book" was supposed to be easy-reading explanation of key outcomes of extensive study made by Nobel prize winners on biases.

In fact the way this release is written is the AUTHOR BIAS.

Instead of providing scientific facts and bright examples he is trying to share personal interpretation - and results are not acceptable.

Key narrative is: "YOU are dellusional selfless immature "kid" who is easily manipulated and needs guidance".

And the last thing I want is somebody to devaluate personal developent in a toxic way.

AVOID this book at any cost. Wish I could get back my money spent on this.

154 people found this helpful

Helpful

Mr Finners

... $2 for some book to tell me i'm not smart then realized my wife tells me that for free

Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2017

Verified Purchase

paid $2 for some book to tell me i'm not smart then realized my wife tells me that for free.

i guess i needed the book after all.

131 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

One of the best reads ever

Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2017

Verified Purchase

Every chapter offers an astounding bit of insight into human behavior and psychology. I can not look at myself or others in the way that I was accustomed. I believe it has changed my perception for the better. This is one that is worth reading again.

28 people found this helpful

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Paul

A page-turner!

Reviewed in the United States on July 13, 2017

Verified Purchase

Let's suppose that you imagine yourself to be self-aware, intelligent, and reasonable enough to see through all the bunk dished up by our society, culture, and institutions. If that's the case, you'll find this good-humored and humbling book a revelation. I'm reading it a second time to review its lessons without laughing at myself quite as much as I did the first time through.

30 people found this helpful

Helpful

Doug Jensen

Follow up by reading some professional (psychology, economics) books or papers or at least web documents, most are easy

Reviewed in the United States on March 10, 2017

Verified Purchase

Easy populist introduction to psychological delusions such as cognitive bias. Follow up by reading some professional (psychology, economics) books or papers or at least web documents, most are easy to understand, have vastly more details, and are less breezy than this book. Kahneman and Tversky are the gold standard pioneers in this field (six years after Tversky's death, Kahneman received the 2002 Nobel Prize in Economics for the work he did in collaboration with Tversky).

28 people found this helpful

Helpful

Reenie

Fools! All of us Fools!

Reviewed in the United States on November 22, 2016

Verified Purchase

Love this book and its approach to the heuristics! Learned a lot about myself and others! Find myself analyzing situations and choices using what I have learned through this book! Cannot believe how easily we can be fooled. Feel the wiser not that I know I am not so smart!

21 people found this helpful

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Jihye

Great read.

Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2017

Verified Purchase

Since I follow the website I figured I'd check out the book. Now I like to refer to this book as " a.k.a Everyday Life Explained". Ever wonder why people tend to do the dumb things they do? Ever wonder about your own tendencies? Ever wonder about how we make decisions in general? Read this book. It's written intelligently, with just enough humor to keep you engaged and content. A must read to know thyself better.

16 people found this helpful

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Erin McClanahan

Horrible book

Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2019

Verified Purchase

Pop psyc at its WORST. This is a waste of time. The author ties to cover too much territory, doesn’t provide nearly enough evidence for the caes they make, nor does it discuss the subjects of the studies (ages, genders, socioeconomic status, country of origin) and I suspect most of the studies presented were done using white male college students, since most of them reference college students and many of them took pace in the 70s. Save your money. Read something else.

6 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Andrew Fontenelle

You are Not So Smart

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 22, 2018

Verified Purchase

What we think about ourselves, other people and the world is a curious thing. We all believe that we approach life with carefully laid out plans and we assess all the pros and cons before making our decisions. In fact, we only consider those things which confirm our preconceived bias, and we are great at having insight after the fact.

In "You are Not So Smart", David McRaney has organised many of the biases and ideas that cause us to make incorrect assumptions into easily digestible chapters.

I would recommend everyone read this book and use it to review your assessments and decisions in light of the biases that you have.

2 people found this helpful

Noid

An easy to read intro

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 15, 2020

Verified Purchase

If you've already read Thinking Fast and Slow then this would not be recommended reading. However if you're looking at an easy introduction into many of the ideas explored in Thinking Fast and Slow then this would be a good start. Many ideas condensed into soundbites so a good entry level book - something you can pick up and read easily without any brain power.

One person found this helpful

Kindle Customer

I'm not so smart but apparently there is done hope

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 29, 2016

Verified Purchase

Finally a book talking about the cognitive biases. A little disappointed but it might just be because I've discovered how little smart I'm.
On a more serious note, I was pleased to find a place referencing and explaining the various biases affecting our decision making process.

Talking about biases, I am curious to know the position of the author regarding concepts such as positive thinking and spirituality...

The book was certainly informative, I will definitively often get back to it.

One person found this helpful

Maha Upasika Gotami

Fascinating

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 15, 2014

Verified Purchase

Takes 48 everyday assumptions, such as believing your opinions are the result of objective analysis, or thinking you know when you are lying to yourself, or thinking you work harder in a group, and shows how these are common misconceptions often quite the opposite from reality. Moreover there are lots of descriptions of scientific surveys and experiments to prove his point; it's not just psycho-babble.
A fascinating read. You are embarrassed thinking you stand out like a sore thumb and he reminds you that in fact hardly anyone even notices you are there.
Delivered promptly, new book still in plastic.

4 people found this helpful

Mr. Alex Buxton

Mind Blowing

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 3, 2013

Verified Purchase

This is a fantastic book packed full of so much information that a single read won't do it justice. While many books similar to this have a handful of principles (Marketing to Influence and Predictably Irrational come to mind) this one has a huge amount more substance.

It draws you in in the first few pages by proving you are not so smart and then explains why and what we can do about it for the rest of the book.

What makes this interesting is that we think we are clever for reading this book and the rest of the world wouldn't be interested in it. They are too bust watching reality shows or reading glossy magazines. However, this has been a very popular book which means that we are the masses and, in fact, "are not so smart"!

One person found this helpful

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