Mindware

Tools for Smart Thinking

By: Richard E. Nisbett

Narrated by: Joe Barrett

Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

Many scientific and philosophical ideas are so powerful that they can be applied to our lives at home, work, and school to help us think smarter and more effectively about our behavior and the world around us. Surprisingly, many of these ideas remain unknown to most of us. In Mindware, the world-renowned psychologist Richard Nisbett presents these ideas in clear and accessible detail, offering a tool kit for better thinking and wiser decisions.

He has made a distinguished career of studying and teaching such powerful problem-solving concepts as the law of large numbers, statistical regression, cost-benefit analysis, sunk costs and opportunity costs, and causation and correlation, probing how best to teach others to use them effectively in their daily lives. In this groundbreaking book, he shows that a course in a given field - statistics or economics, for example - often doesn't work as well as a few minutes of more practical instruction in analyzing everyday situations.

Mindware shows how to reframe common problems in such a way that these powerful scientific and statistical concepts can be applied to them. The result is an enlightening and practical guide to the most powerful tools of reasoning ever developed - tools that can easily be used to make better professional, business, and personal decisions.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2015 Richard E. Nisbett (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"The most influential thinker, in my life, has been [Nisbett]." (Malcolm Gladwell, New York Times Book Review)

excellent material rich in original thought

This book does a clearance a sync job of making its point through multiple different avenues of showing a gambols of how to utilize the brain's existing functions to make good decisions

Fun to listen to...hard to remember everything

I found this book fun to listen to. I enjoyed the different stories and studies shared as well as why they should be questioned. But there is a lot of information shared so I might need to listen to this one again in a few months.

Important Knowledge!

Very interesting! Extremely hard to understand at times.Not for lazy listening while cleaning house but rather for a time with complete attention and with a pad and paper to take notes. Some knowledge of statistics will help.Unfortunately this book will probably be too hard to understand for the the everyday people who absolutely need it the most in order not to let themselves be seduced by dubious or downright false claims and studies bombarding us every day from the abundance of sources of information in modern day society.

Good content, poor narrator

The content of this book is very interesting. However the narrator rushes through it, with barely a pause between sentences and it's the type of material I would need to ponder, at least for 1 second between sentences. Also, the narrator has a very raspy voice that I find hard to listen to, always wanting to clear my throat, take a breath or get a sip of water FOR him. I would like to re-listen to the book to grab some of the points he rushed through, however unfortunately, I don't think I can tolerate his voice for that many hours again. Sorry :-(

Got of good info

I had to slow it down to .75 so I would not miss things. I missed things anyway. I plan on listening to it again.

Well-trod territory

The author competently achieves his purpose. But most of what's in this wide-ranging book will be familiar to anyone even moderately attentive and well-read.

The author has a self-help, preening tone I found off-putting: Essentially "In this book you'll learn valuable tools that will sharpen your analytic abilities at home, work, and school." The tone is not one of an adult speaking to peers.

A way to think about thinking

this book is really well put together. It gives insight into how we go about making small and large decisions. I would recommend it to anybody who is planning to ever make a decision from this point forward. It explains logically and clearly how we can go about becoming better decision makers in our personal and business life.

Good

Quite good. Could really improve the critical thinking and decision making of many of us. Right level of detail and both informative and entertaining throughout.

A well reasoned argument against certainty

Being sure of something makes it more likely that you're wrong about it. Nisbett goes through the fundamentals of reasoning about the world, then proceeds to show how every way to do it is error-prone.

Amazing

This book has so much practical advice and great tips for how to implement new ways of thinking. It has given me some much needed tools to navigate the curvy and confusing fabric of society.