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Julia Galef

The Scout Mindset

  • The Scout Mindset

  • Learn how to combat biases and make smarter decisions

    In The Scout Mindset, Julia Galef explores two different modes of thinking, the 'soldier' and the 'scout' mindset. Unfortunately, most of us naturally have a 'soldier' mindset, were we protect our beliefs aggressively and ignore any evidence that we might be wrong. But to be right more often, we need to approach ideas more like a scout.

    A scout surveys the land, seeking accuracy and understanding to find all the available information - good and bad - to gain a more truthful picture. To help you make better decisions, this book will show you how to:

    - gather information from multiple sources
    - weigh up short and long term gains
    - overcome inherent biases
    - transcend tribal thinking
    - avoid self-deception

    Drawing on fascinating stories from Warren Buffett's investing strategies to subreddit threads and modern partisan politics, Galef explores why our brains try to deceive us and reveals how we can overcome biases so that we make the right decision more often.

Julia Galef is the Co-founder and President of the Center for Applied Rationality. She has run workshops around the world and for many of Silicon Valley's top tech companies including Facebook, Dropbox and Twitter. She and the Center for Applied Rationality have been featured in The New York Times Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Discover and Harper's. Galef has written for Slate, Scientific American and Popular Science. She hosts the popular Rationally Speaking podcast, where she interviews thinkers such as Neil deGrasse Tyson, Sean Carroll, Phil Tetlock and Paul Bloom.

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