Learn how to combat biases and make smarter decisions by adopting a 'scout' mindset
The human brain is designed to lie to us. Over the years, it has evolved to help us ignore mistakes we make, fuelling our own irrational, biological instincts. But what if we could train our minds to make more rational decisions, without the blow to our confidence?
In The Scout Mindset, Julia Galef explores two different modes of thinking, the 'soldier' and the 'scout' mindset, and explains why the 'scout' mindset helps us make much better decisions. Unfortunately, most of us naturally have a 'soldier' mindset. 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 less like a soldier and 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. While the soldier and the scout are both essential to the functioning of an actual army, a scout mindset will benefit most of us much more in decision-making.
With fascinating stories ranging from Warren Buffett's investing strategies to subreddit threads and modern partisan politics, Galef explores why our brains deceive us and what we can do see things more clearly and make the right decision more often.
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Imprint: Penguin
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Published: 04/02/2021
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ISBN: 9780241987193
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RRP: £13.00
Reviews
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A must read for all who have trouble saying 'I was wrong' and 'I change my mind,' which is all of us
Michael Shermer, Author of The Moral Arc
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Julia understands human thinking with incredible clarity and she's a master at communicating that clarity to others through her writing and metaphors. I haven't stopped thinking about the scout mindset ever since I first heard Julia explain it
Tim Urban, writer, TED speaker, creator of Wait But Why
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When I was looking for an expert on how people change their minds, I turned to Julia Galef. Obviously, no question, and I didn't even have to seek her out. Her reputation is already well known. Galef is a great resource on this mystery because she has devoted herself both to understanding why it can seem so difficult, and to how she can help people push through the challenge and benefit from new perspectives
David McRaney, creator of You Are Not So Smart and bestselling author of book by the same name
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Julia Galef is a consistently stimulating, rigorous, and incisive thinker. I greatly look forward to reading whatever she writes
Maria Konnikova, contributing writer to The New Yorker, and New York Times bestselling author of Mastermind
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Julia Galef is one of the smartest, most exciting voices not just in American rationalism, but in American writing period. she is consistently fascinating
journalist and New York Times bestselling author of Chasing the Scream, Johann Hari
