Don’t Believe Everything You Think Personal

I usually don’t dedicate an entire blog post to a book review unless I am extremely impressed with the book. In the case of Thomas Kida’s Don’t Believe Everything You Think: The 6 Basic Mistakes We Make in Thinking, “impressed” is definitely a word I would use to describe it.

Even though my last post was also a book review, and I have some very exciting family news (my third daughter was just born!), I decided to write this review now anyway, and delay showing off my daughter until my mom comes in a couple weeks and takes some really nice family pictures. :)

In Don’t Believe Everything You Think, Thomas Kida discusses many beliefs we tend to hold, even though we have no evidence to support them, and often have much evidence against them. More importantly, he disects the ways our mind can make these mistakes, and how we can avoid them. This book is about thinking more like a scientist or statistician, holding back belief until evidence warrants it, and understanding the psychological drama that goes on inside our brains as we form beliefs and opinions and memories.

The six basic mistakes we make in thinking that he discusses in depth are:

  • We prefer stories to statistics, giving more weight to a personal story than to testable evidence.
  • We seek to confirm, or we find evidence to favor what we want to believe, remembering the hits, and forgetting the misses.
  • We rarely appreciate the role of chance and coincidence in life, often finding cause and effect relationships when none exist.
  • We can misperceive our world. What we see and hear is highly influenced by what we want to perceive, as well as simply faulty senses that we rarely accept we have.
  • We oversimplify, which can be helpful in making quick decisions, but can also cause us to leave out important details, leading to mistakes in judgment.
  • We have faulty memories, which can be influenced and changed by our current beliefs, expectations, environment, and even suggestive questioning. Our memories can change over time even when we’re confident they haven’t.

Each of these points are demonstrated with stories (because we like them) and also numerous scientific studies. Kida even discusses how to judge between quality science and faulty science, and how to spot errors in scientific studies and their reports in the media. Small amounts of quality evidence outweigh large amounts of poor quality evidence, such as personal stories.

The book asks a lot of questions that get you thinking and test your beliefs. After reading this book, it’s easy to see that we make more mistakes in our thinking than we realize. Fortunately, being aware of this can help reduce errors and incorrect decisions that can have drastic consequences.

This book should be required reading for anyone who has a thinking brain. The critical thinking skills taught in this book can help with every aspect of life. Check out Don’t Believe Everything You Think today.


Brandon is a location independent entrepreneur, musician, worldschooling father, and the principal author of this blog. He's all about reaching his potential and enjoying life to the fullest in each moment.


Comments

  1. That really sounds like a great book!! It seems to have many interesting ideas and I’d love to read more about them. Thanks!!

  2. “This book should be required reading for anyone who has a thinking brain”

    LOLOL… well, I guess that’s me, because I believe my brain is thinking right now…

    I’ll add it to my list. And now that I have an iPad (yes, I bought one!) maybe I’ll get a digital copy.

    Can’t wait to see you all and take great photos!

  3. Allison Madsen Says: June 2, 2011 at 8:39 am

    Congrats on the new little one! Glad everything went smoothly:)

  4. I will be reading this book also. From what you’ve told me about it I’m sure it will be a very interesting read. :)

  5. Congratulations on the new addition!

  6. Danielle Butler Says: June 2, 2011 at 12:56 pm

    Congratulations on the new family member! All the best wishes to you, your wife and family.

    And thanks for the review on the book- perfect timing. I’m looking for something new to read.

  7. Michelle Says: June 13, 2011 at 7:23 pm

    Brandon,
    Congrats on the sweet angel! Also give your mom a hug from me.

    This book sounds very interesting, maybe I will put aside my “Game of Thrones” 900 page monster and read this instead.

  8. Michael Says: June 27, 2011 at 6:01 am

    Hi Brandon and Jennifer – I so enjoy reading all your posts. I wish I had been thinking outside of the box when our 4 kids were growing up – you are giving your kids an experience they will treasure for the rest of their life. I am back in Chicago now and really missing CR and Grecia where I have so many good friends.

    I will definitely be reading Kida’s book. I am currently reading (and fascinated by) Dr. Michael Shermer’s book “The Believing Brain” which covers the same subject. Critical thinking is a skill that should be mandatory in our schools.

    I hope I will be able to see you guys again before you leave CR and I would like to have the opportunity for my wife to meet you and talk about your Great Adventure.

    Michael

  9. […] of the common mistakes we all (including me) make in our thinking, so well explained in the book Don’t Believe Everything You Think which I reviewed last year. It’s a great book that really increased my awareness of how our […]

  10. […] had believed growing up was a distortion of the truth, and I came to understand how easy it is to believe things that are not true, even in the face of strong opposing evidence. I still felt peaceful feelings after I left, but I […]

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