Turi Munthe

This book is always fascinating but frequently mind-blowing

Marina Hyde, Guardian columnist and co-host of The Rest Is Entertainment

With a wealth of intriguing data, Munthe explains why robust debate is essential for a creative and healthy society. As he vividly puts it: thinking is a contact sport

Timothy Garton Ash, author of Free Speech and Guardian columnist

Fizzing with insights and ideas that will challenge the foundations of all you think you believe... I loved it

Jenny Kleeman, author of The Price of Life

Fascinating, incredibly valuable and accessible – Munthe knits together the wide and deep influences on our perceptions into a compelling view of why we see the world and each other the way we do

Bobby Duffy, author of The Perils of Perception

A thoughtful and expansive book about the roots of our most private beliefs. Written with a journalist’s curiosity and a storyteller’s verve, Why We Think What We Think explores how psychology, biology, history, and culture shape our opinions in surprising ways. Every reader will come away entertained, enlightened, and a little humbled -- and hopefully more prepared to face our polarising times

Leor Zmigrod, award-winning scientist and author of The Ideological Brain

If you think of yourself as a rational and thoughtful individual, who has spent time, care and energy weighing up the evidence, brace yourself. This book will peel the scales from your eyes. Entertaining as well as erudite, Munthe is the perfect guide to the murky underworld where our beliefs take shape.

In this lively and indispensable exploration of the origins of our opinions and the nature of our beliefs, Munthe reveals that engaging our differences is essential to human flourishing. A powerful defence of reasoned, civil disagreement

Robert B. Talisse, Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University

In this provocative, wide-ranging, and wonderfully written book -- a delightful marriage of Jared Diamond and Charles Darwin -- Munthe shows that understanding the true source of our views is possible only by incorporating geology, humidity, food preferences, physiology, and genetics

What if we hold most of our opinions for no rational reasons? Munthe takes this question head-on in his fun and fearless book, and shows us what to do about it

Alexandre Lefebvre, author of Liberalism as a Way of Life

The Unexpected Origins of Our Deepest Beliefs

'This book is always fascinating but frequently mind-blowing' 
Marina Hyde, Guardian columnist and co-host of The Rest Is Entertainment 
 
'Fizzing with insights and ideas... I loved it' 
Jenny Kleeman, author of The Price of Life 
 
'Intriguing... Munthe explains why robust debate is essential for a creative and healthy society' 
Timothy Garton Ash, author of Free Speech and Guardian columnist 
 
Our opinions – whether we believe in God or in ghosts, our views on sex or animal rights or immigration, our basic sense of what’s good or fair – are shaped by a breathtaking web of hidden forces. The age-old idea that our views are forged by reason and evidence alone is wrong: we are influenced by everything from the quirks of distant history, through the geology of where we grew up, to the lines of our genetic code. 
 
This astounding book takes us through culture, biology, geography, history, psychology and much more to uncover the hidden DNA of our opinions. It reveals: 
<ul><li>why the descendants of rice farmers have different values to the descendants of grain farmers</li><li>how our physical appearance shapes the way we see the world – and why conventionally attractive people tend to support the free market</li><li>why liberals think pineapple should go on pizza, and why conservatives prefer smooth peanut butter to crunchy</li><li>why hot and humid countries favour authoritarian leaders, and drought-prone ones prefer authoritarian gods</li></ul> 
 
Packed with extraordinary stories and counterintuitive discoveries, Why We Think What We Think asks a fundamental question of ourselves. If we are predisposed to our beliefs, how can we escape the bounds of our own perspective? The answer lies in disagreement. Argument is how we reason, how we think our way to a better world. To thrive, as individuals and societies, we need the other side.

Turi Munthe

Praise for Why We Think What We Think

This book is always fascinating but frequently mind-blowing

With a wealth of intriguing data, Munthe explains why robust debate is essential for a creative and healthy society. As he vividly puts it: thinking is a contact sport

Fizzing with insights and ideas that will challenge the foundations of all you think you believe... I loved it

This book is always fascinating but frequently mind-blowing

With a wealth of intriguing data, Munthe explains why robust debate is essential for a creative and healthy society. As he vividly puts it: thinking is a contact sport

Fizzing with insights and ideas that will challenge the foundations of all you think you believe... I loved it

This book is always fascinating but frequently mind-blowing

With a wealth of intriguing data, Munthe explains why robust debate is essential for a creative and healthy society. As he vividly puts it: thinking is a contact sport

Fizzing with insights and ideas that will challenge the foundations of all you think you believe... I loved it

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter