吴聊好书：为何聪明人犯低级错误

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The Intelligence Trap: Why Smart People Make Stupid Mistakes

Hardcover: 336 pages

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1 edition (August 6, 2019)

Language: English

Author:  David Robson

Genre:  Non-fiction

Book Tag:  #Cognitive Psychology #Neuropsychology #Medical Neuropsychology

01

导读开始

    Venture into the darker recesses of the internet, and you may come across the views of a man named Kary. If he is to be believed, he has some unique insights that could change the world order. He suspects he was abducted by an alien near the Navarro River, California, for instance, after encountering a strange being who took the form of a glowing raccoon with “shifty black eyes.” He can’t actually remember what happened “after the little bastard” gave him a “courteous greeting”; the rest of the night is a complete blank. But he strongly suspects it involved extra-terrestrial life. “There are a lot of mysteries in the valley,” he writes, cryptically.

02

更多

    He’s also a devoted follower of astrology. “Most scientists are under the false impression that it is non-scientific and not a fit subject for their serious study,” he huffs in a long rant. “They are dead wrong.” He thinks it’s the key to better mental health treatment and everyone who disagrees has “their heads firmly inserted in their asses.” Besides these beliefs in ET and star signs, Kary also thinks that people can travel through the ether on the astral plane. 

    Things take a darker turn when Kary starts talking about politics. “Some of the big truths voters have accepted have little or no scientific basis,” he claims. This includes “the belief that AIDS is caused by HIV virus” and “the belief that the release of CFCs into the atmosphere has created a hole in the ozone layer.” 

03

还有

    Needless to say, these ideas are almost universally accepted by scientists—but Kary tells his readers that they are just out for money. “Turn off your TV. Read your elementary science textbooks,” he implores. “You need to know what they are up to.” 

    I hope I don’t have to tell you that Kary is wrong.

    The web is full of people with groundless opinions, of course—but we don’t expect astrologers and AIDS denialists to represent the pinnacle of intellectual achievement. 

    Yet Kary’s full name is Kary Mullis, and far from being your stereotypically ill-informed conspiracy theorist, he is a Nobel Prize-winning scientist—placing himself alongside the likes of Marie Curie, Albert Einstein and Francis Crick.

04

看看大家怎么说

“Highly readable…[The Intelligence Trap] strikes the right balance between illustrative vignettes and accessible translations of complex research, delivering a smart look at intellect and its shortcomings.”

- Publishers Weekly

“An engrossing standout in the thinking genre that will appeal to anyone who has ever been wrongheaded.”

- Kirkus Reviews

“The Intelligence Trap combines mesmerizing storytelling with groundbreaking new research about why having a high IQ can backfire. Essential reading for anyone who wants to think more clearly.”

- Rolf Dobelli, author of The Art of Thinking Clearly

“I loved The Intelligence Trap. As fun to read as it is fascinating, it celebrates the power of humility and curiosity. Everyone, especially intelligent people, should read this brilliant and important book.”

- Anna Rosling Rönnlund, coauthor of Factfulness

“The Intelligence Trap is a ceaselessly fascinating book written by one of our most consistently superb science writers. Its counter-intuitive argument, that intelligence is no inoculation against wrongness, explains so much about the fractious and baffling times in which we live.”

- Will Storr, author of Selfie

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