Bookshelf: Silly Humans

You Are Not So Smart

by David McRaney

The Gist

You're not the logical creature you think you are, and journalist (and self-proclaimed "psychology nerd") McRaney is determined to prove it. Dabbling in social psychology, game theory, behavioral economics, and more, the book—based on the popular blog of the same name—zips through 48 misconceptions and truths about our error-prone minds.

Read This If...

You're a sucker for quick reads and cocktail party fodder. McRaney's sweeping overview is like taking a Psych 101 class with a witty professor and zero homework. While much of the material will be familiar to anyone with a solid psychology back-ground, even seasoned psych lovers will learn something new. —Andrea Bartz

The Folly of Fools

by Robert Trivers

The Gist

Thanks to our fine-tuned senses, we can take in a detailed account of our environment. But when that info hits our brains, it becomes distorted and biased, a fabricated version of reality. Why? Trivers, an evolutionary theorist, argues that in order to fool others swiftly and with minimal effort (and in turn gain access to greater resources), we must first deceive ourselves.

Read This If...

You're hungry for assumption-challenging explanations for your everyday behavior. Well-articulated and convincing, Trivers's theory draws on group dynamics, neuroscience, and even immunology to explain why we're all liars. Ultimately, he concludes that we're best off sensing—and telling—the truth whenever possible. —Andrea Bartz

Speak Easy

A tool for testing the clarity of words

Dan Roam, an author and business consultant whose clients include the White House Office of Communications, sees a big problem with how we communicate. “Our sole mechanism for conveying ideas is words,” he says. “The brain devotes so much real estate to spatial, pictorial processing, but as soon as we learn to read, we stop using images to communicate.” His new book, Blah Blah Blah, helps us recognize problematic chit-chat and then fix it with both words and pictures. One of his tools for the former goal is the Blah-Blahmeter. “It’s a B.S. detector,” Roam explains. “When you’re hearing something or composing your own thoughts, you can use it to check the true meaning beneath the words’ surface.” Next time you hear or pen a phrase, ask yourself: Is it...

...boring?

Blah is clunky language said by someone who intended to illuminate but fell short.

“The 20 percent that right now is still the holdup would have been a holdup if we had put forward a plan, hadn’t put forward a plan, had left it to Congress...” —Barack Obama, on the health care bill

...foggy?

Blah-blah sounds smart, but beneath the flowery language, “the intent is to cover up the fact that there isn’t much of an idea there,” Roam says.

To optimize brand revenue growth, we will shift responsibility for single-site, digital sales and marketing to the brand level.” —Condé Nast CEO Chuck Townsend, in a company-wide email

...misleading?

Blah-blah-blah is “a grand misleading exercise meant to draw you away from the rotten core of an idea,” Roam says.

“The puts, funded in large part by the sale of the calls, limit the portfolio’s downside.” —Madoff Securities, on an investment strategy that later was exposed as a $21 billion fraud