This is a book everyone must read as a great self assessment tool. At first you might feel it’s a tough book because of the psychology terms used but I urge you to carry on. Plenty of real life examples to make it relatable. There is a lot of research and experiment references proving his points. The chapters are small not more than 2 pages, this makes it an easy read. On many occasions while reading I would actually laugh at myself and about my illusions.

You won’t be embarrassed accepting you are wrong because nobody knows about it. Here you would think no it’s not a Misconception but as you read on the writer proves his point through research references and real life examples until you reluctantly say ahhh I see the point, or, well actually you know he might be right about this. THE TRUTH: you are generally pretty bad at estimating your competence and the difficulty of complex tasks. THE MISCONCEPTION: You can predict how well you would perform in any situation.

THE TRUTH: Memories construct new information each time from whatever is currently available, which makes them highly permeable to influence from the present. THE MISCONCEPTION: Memories are played back like recordings. The writer gives us a Misconception that we have about ourselves about our way of thinking and then the truth. There are forty nine small chapters in the book and the opening statement of each one of them is so interesting and catchy that you would want to read on. Take this book for example when you read the title it challenges you to give it a read and you pick it up to prove it wrong. Because hey we all like to tell ourselves that we are intelligent human beings. You can analyze your own shortcomings as well as strong points without anyone knowing it. For me they are like secret self assessment tools. 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.īringing together popular science and psychology with humor and wit, You Are Not So Smart is a celebration of our irrational, thoroughly human behavior.Recently I have read some very interesting self help books and thoroughly enjoyed them. 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.

You’re just as deluded as the rest of us-but that’s okay, because being deluded is part of being human. But here’s the truth: You are not so smart. 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. An entertaining illumination of the stupid beliefs that make us feel wise, based on the popular blog of the same name.

You are not so smart book review