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dimayj 's review for:
The Intelligence Trap: Why Smart People Make Dumb Mistakes
by David Robson
As the title suggests, this book is about why smart people are susceptible to cognitive errors and about strategies that anyone can implement to make better decisions and avoid intellectual biases.
The basic message of the book is that high level of general intelligence is not synonymous with bias-free thinking, and while all people across the intelligence spectrum are prone to flawed thinking, intelligent and educated people are even more so because they seem to have bigger "bias blind spot", "dysrationalia", and other types of biases.
The book is divided into 4 parts. In part 1, the author explores the limitations surrounding our understanding of intelligence and describes 3 types of intelligence; practical, analytic and creative. The author then explains various intellectual biases such as dysrationalia, motivated reasoning, and the curse of knowledge and expertise. In part 2, the author introduces "evidence-based wisdom", how to cultivate it, and strategies to avoid falling into the intelligence trap, such as "intellectual humility" and "cognitive reflection". Part 3 delves into the science of learning and memory, the effects of curiosity and a growth mindset on learning, and offers strategies for deep learning. In part 4, the author discusses group intelligence and factors that affect group decision-making. The book finishes with a useful and accessible appendix of taxonomies of stupidity and wisdom that summarises the cognitive errors and evidence-based wisdom discussed in the book.
The writing style blends story-telling and anecdotes with evidence and research. However, I felt the book (part 4, in particular) was long-winded and slightly loosely written, meaning ideas and discussions were not held tightly together and related descriptions were spread across many chapters.
Overall though, the book is worth reading. It is closely related to the book "Thinking Fast and Slow", but I'd consider "The Intelligence Trap" as a lighter and faster read.
The basic message of the book is that high level of general intelligence is not synonymous with bias-free thinking, and while all people across the intelligence spectrum are prone to flawed thinking, intelligent and educated people are even more so because they seem to have bigger "bias blind spot", "dysrationalia", and other types of biases.
The book is divided into 4 parts. In part 1, the author explores the limitations surrounding our understanding of intelligence and describes 3 types of intelligence; practical, analytic and creative. The author then explains various intellectual biases such as dysrationalia, motivated reasoning, and the curse of knowledge and expertise. In part 2, the author introduces "evidence-based wisdom", how to cultivate it, and strategies to avoid falling into the intelligence trap, such as "intellectual humility" and "cognitive reflection". Part 3 delves into the science of learning and memory, the effects of curiosity and a growth mindset on learning, and offers strategies for deep learning. In part 4, the author discusses group intelligence and factors that affect group decision-making. The book finishes with a useful and accessible appendix of taxonomies of stupidity and wisdom that summarises the cognitive errors and evidence-based wisdom discussed in the book.
The writing style blends story-telling and anecdotes with evidence and research. However, I felt the book (part 4, in particular) was long-winded and slightly loosely written, meaning ideas and discussions were not held tightly together and related descriptions were spread across many chapters.
Overall though, the book is worth reading. It is closely related to the book "Thinking Fast and Slow", but I'd consider "The Intelligence Trap" as a lighter and faster read.