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Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters Audiobook
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Can reading a book make you more rational? Can it help us understand why there is so much irrationality in the world? Steven Pinker, author of Enlightenment Now (Bill Gates’s "new favorite book of all time”) answers all the questions here
Today humanity is reaching new heights of scientific understanding--and also appears to be losing its mind. How can a species that developed vaccines for Covid-19 in less than a year produce so much fake news, medical quackery, and conspiracy theorizing?
Pinker rejects the cynical cliché that humans are simply irrational--cavemen out of time saddled with biases, fallacies, and illusions. After all, we discovered the laws of nature, lengthened and enriched our lives, and set out the benchmarks for rationality itself. We actually think in ways that are sensible in the low-tech contexts in which we spend most of our lives, but fail to take advantage of the powerful tools of reasoning we’ve discovered over the millennia: logic, critical thinking, probability, correlation and causation, and optimal ways to update beliefs and commit to choices individually and with others. These tools are not a standard part of our education, and have never been presented clearly and entertainingly in a single book--until now.
Rationality also explores its opposite: how the rational pursuit of self-interest, sectarian solidarity, and uplifting mythology can add up to crippling irrationality in a society. Collective rationality depends on norms that are explicitly designed to promote objectivity and truth.
Rationality matters. It leads to better choices in our lives and in the public sphere, and is the ultimate driver of social justice and moral progress. Brimming with Pinker’s customary insight and humor, Rationality will enlighten, inspire, and empower.
* This audiobook includes a PDF of charts and graphs.
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"Erudite, lucid, funny and dense with fascinating material . . . A pragmatic dose of measured optimism, presenting rationality as a fragile but achievable ideal in personal and civic life. . . . It’s no small achievement to make formal logic, game theory, statistics and Bayesian reasoning delightful topics full of charm and relevance."
— The Washington Post
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“An impassioned and zippy introduction to the tools of rational thought…Punchy, funny. and invigorating.”
— The Times (London) -
“An engaging analysis of the highest of our faculties and perhaps (ironically) the least understood.”
— Wall Street Journal -
“Narrator Arthur Morey employs an authoritative tone…As Morey weaves the facts into a listenable and informative narrative, the solid ideas tell us exactly where society is now and, for people interested in arriving at actual truth, give us a road map for the future. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award."
— AudioFile -
“Pinker manages to be scrupulously rigorous yet steadily accessible and entertaining whether probing the rationality of Andrew Yang’s presidential platform, Dilbert cartoons, or Yiddish proverbs.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review) -
An impassioned and zippy introduction to the tools of rational thought… Punchy, funny and invigorating.
— The Times (London) -
“An engaging analysis of the highest of our faculties and perhaps (ironically) the least understood
— The Wall Street Journal -
If you’ve ever considered taking drugs to make yourself smarter, read Rationality instead.
— Jonathan Haidt, New York Times bestselling co-author of THE CODDLING OF THE AMERICAN MIND -
Pinker manages to be scrupulously rigorous yet steadily accessible and entertaining whether probing the rationality of Andrew Yang’s presidential platform, Dilbert cartoons, or Yiddish proverbs. The result is both a celebration of humans’ ability to make things better with careful thinking and a penetrating rebuke to muddleheadedness
— Publishers Weekly (starred) -
A reader-friendly primer in better thinking through the cultivation of that rarest of rarities: a sound argument.
— Kirkus Reviews
Awards
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A New York Times bestseller
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A #1 Amazon bestseller
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A New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice of the Week
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Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award
Rationality Listener Reviews
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Jurf O, 10/15/2022
About Steven Pinker
Steven Pinker is one of the world’s leading authorities on language and the mind. His popular and highly praised books include The Stuff of Thought, The Blank Slate, Words and Rules, How the Mind Works, and The Language Instinct. The recipient of several major awards for his teaching, books, and scientific research, he is Harvard College Professor and Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. He also writes frequently for the New York Times, Time, New Republic, and other magazines.
About Arthur Morey
Arthur Morey has won three AudioFile Magazine “Best Of” Awards, and his work has garnered numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards and placed him as a finalist for two Audie Awards. He has acted in a number of productions, both off Broadway in New York and off Loop in Chicago. He graduated from Harvard and did graduate work at the University of Chicago. He has won awards for his fiction and drama, worked as an editor with several book publishers, and taught literature and writing at Northwestern University. His plays and songs have been produced in New York, Chicago, and Milan, where he has also performed.