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    Cover of This will make you smarter

    This will make you smarter

    John Brockman · 2012

    This Will Make You Smarter presents brilliant but accessible ideas to expand every mind. What scientific concept would improve everybody's cognitive toolkit? This is the question John Brockman, publisher of Edge.org, posed to the world's most influential thinkers. Their visionary answers flow from the frontiers of psychology, philosophy, economics, physics, sociology, and more. Surprising and enlightening, these insights will revolutionize the way you think about yourself and the world.

    Psychology & BehaviorBiology & Medicine
    Open LibraryAmazon
    Stats for nerds
    3recommend
    3mentions
    3people
    2014–2019years
    100% recommend

    Mentions per year

    201420152016201720182019

    What Hacker News says

    1. imakwanaMay 2019
      # Intuition Pump and other tools for thinking by Daniel Dennett

      # Books edited by John Brockman - 1) This Explains Everything, 2) This Idea is Brilliant, 3) This Will Make You Smarter, 4) Thinking

      # Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman

      Also second the recommendation of other books based on Charlie Munger's wisdom and farnam street's reading list.

      thread
    2. b_emeryAug 2017
      I haven't read Behave by Robert Sapolsky, but I did read 'A Primate's Memoir' a while back and it was fantastic. A memoir of his time in Africa studying baboons, well written and entertaining. One of those books that I was sad to finish. You can learn a lot about human behavior and society by studying baboons.

      Two books I've read this summer that would fit on this list are This will make you smarter from edge.org, and Waking Up by Sam Harris. The first is a collection of the essays from edge.org about what everyone should have in their cognitive toolkit [1]. Consider it a list of a) the many ways one can go wrong when trying to think scientifically, and b) some of the many concepts to consider when trying to solve a problem or understand something. Waking Up was good from the point of view of understanding the science behind 'the self' and meditation. I've started meditating because of this book, and it's a useful guide for avoiding the, shall I say, less rational aspects that are out there.

      [1] https://www.edge.org/responses/what-scientific-concept-would...

      thread
    3. onion2kSep 2014
      This Book Will Make You Smarter - http://www.amazon.co.uk/This-Will-Make-You-Smarter/dp/055277...

      It's a collection of essays from leading modern thinkers (Dawson, Pinker, etc) on which cognitive tools people should be equipped with. It's fantastic. I'm 1/4 through at the moment and I can honestly say it lives up to it's title.

      You can read all the essays for free at http://edge.org/responses/what-scientific-concept-would-impr... (book form is a lot nicer though) - edge.org is well worth poking about on. There's some seriously interesting stuff on there.

      thread

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