Mindware

June 8, 2015
Psychology professor Nisbett (Intelligence and How to Get It) again makes a challenging topic accessible in this witty exploration of common errors in thinking (e.g., mistaking correlation for causation). Nisbett challenges long-held assumptions and patterns of thought, having “compared people’s reasoning to scientific, statistical, and logical standards and found large classes of judgments to be systematically mistaken.” Most readers will emerge with a far better understanding of why they make the errors that they do, and perhaps how to avoid them. Nisbett capably presents dense material in digestible form; statistical analysis will never be child’s play, but it’s hard to imagine someone doing a better job in explaining the tools it has to offer everyone, and how to employ them. His frequent use of anecdotes from his own life, such as the friend who had to weigh the pros and cons of a job switch, aids comprehension, and he also offers ways of interpreting conflicting scientific (and pseudoscientific) findings. Agent: Katinka Matson and John Brockman, Brockman Inc.

Starred review from June 1, 2015

Nisbett (psychology, Univ. of Michigan; Intelligence and How To Get It) immerses his readers in a great depth of knowledge but with such clear teaching and precise examples that they will enjoy the exercise and the result. This sophisticated text connects with so much of our everyday and long-term experience that readers come to understand research design and scientific method. Nisbett uses tools associated with economics as well as psychology: one chapter is "Coding, Counting, Correlation and Causality." Topics range from diet and smoking to education (class size, teacher quality), dietary supplements (these are much used, though there is no evidence of benefit), voting, and green environments. He cautions that faulty MRA (multiple regression analysis) glorifies erroneous conclusions. "If there's bias, the bigger the data, the harder the fall." Nisbett, who has a sense of humor and a measure of humility, steps on some respectable economists' toes as he clarifies fine points of reasoning, measuring tools, subjects of study, and interpretation of results. VERDICT A must for libraries, a joy to own and mark up, a great gift of enlightenment from an expert and exemplary teacher. The section on Logic and Dialectical Reasoning, comparing cultures East and West, rewards readers who can accept uncertainty as the cost of deeper insight.--E. James Lieberman, George Washington Univ. Sch. of Medicine, Washington, DC

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