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Your Deceptive Mind: A Scientific Guide to Critical Thinking Skills cover art

Your Deceptive Mind: A Scientific Guide to Critical Thinking Skills

By: Steven Novella,The Great Courses
Narrated by: Steven Novella
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Publisher's Summary

No skill is more important in today's world than being able to think about, understand, and act on information in an effective and responsible way. What's more, at no point in human history have we had access to so much information, with such relative ease, as we do in the 21st century. But because misinformation out there has increased as well, critical thinking is more important than ever.

These 24 rewarding lectures equip you with the knowledge and techniques you need to become a savvier, sharper critical thinker in your professional and personal life. By immersing yourself in the science of cognitive biases and critical thinking, and by learning how to think about thinking (a practice known as metacognition), you'll gain concrete lessons for doing so more critically, more intelligently, and more successfully.

The key to successful critical thinking lies in understanding the neuroscience behind how our thinking works - and goes wrong; avoiding common pitfalls and errors in thinking, such as logical fallacies and biases; and knowing how to distinguish good science from pseudoscience. Professor Novella tackles these issues and more, exploring how the (often unfamiliar) ways in which our brains are hardwired can distract and prevent us from getting to the truth of a particular matter.

Along the way, he provides you with a critical toolbox that you can use to better assess the quality of information. Even though the world is becoming more and more saturated information, you can take the initiative and become better prepared to make sense of it all with this intriguing course.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2012 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2012 The Great Courses

What listeners say about Your Deceptive Mind: A Scientific Guide to Critical Thinking Skills

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excellent

I highly recommend this to everyone who is old enough to comprehend it. That age will be different for every individual I imagine.
I am a science teacher in Australia and I strongly feel that critical thinking should be explicitly taught in the science syllabus (prior to the senior years).

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29 people found this helpful

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Highly recomended for 1st yearPsychology students.

Most of The Great Courses provided by Audible, contain valuable and indepth material. I just wished I had listened to this particular course prior to my first year studying Psychology at University. Critical thinking plays a major role in the field of science, and much of what can be gathered in this lecture will prepare you for life at university.

Professor Steven Novella is an amazing lecturer, elaborating on real world applications of critical thinking that can appeal to just about everyone.

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17 people found this helpful

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Great Lecture Series

This lecture series exceeded my expectations, and I was already expecting something good and interesting. Everyone needs to listen to this audiobook! I was familiar with several of the concepts and examples brought up, and I've taken classes on critical thinking before, but I still got so much out of it. It was a great refresher on cognitive biases, logical fallacies, and research standards. I learned some things about how the brain works that I didn't know before. The lectures are well organized and presented with relevant examples for every topic, so it was easy to follow and understand.

I think everyone can get something out of this book. It can answer questions you've probably had about why people do things and think the way they do. It can also help you learn to analyze the world better, and think more critically about your own thoughts and beliefs.

To get the most out of this audiobook, I'd recommend listening to one chapter at a time and then spending some time to absorb the information and apply it to what you see in your life or in yourself before listening to the next.

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8 people found this helpful

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Hated it....

God - this is 'tough going'.... a really boring voice.... recorded in a lecture environment... (you hear clapping at the end of the lecture).... and that's what it is.... a long, boring, lecture. If I wanted a university lecture, I'd go to university. This is like a podcast... it's recorded as 'live'.... warts and all.... all of the readers 'mistakes' and tautology.

This 'book' wasn't anything like what I expected. It's NOT a book at all.... there has been no 'editing'... it's just free form.

Disproving Iridology, Reflexology, ghosts, conspiracy thinking and things like psychic powers.... is NOT what I expected.

I've had many attempts at listening to this crap, but this is like one big 6 hour diatribe... there is nothing 'useful' to take away from this book.

I'm not defending any of the things the 'dweeb' takes aim against. I couldn't give a rats...

This one is going back for a trade in. I liked the title though.

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7 people found this helpful

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It should be called "Common Conspiracy Theories Repeated"

I found this book very basic and repedative. The content focussed on how to spot and rebuke conspiracy theories and other unproven or poorly constructed arguments or ideas. The author repeatedly used the same or very similar, weak conspiracy theories to demonstrate the method by which a theory or false information could be refuted. In many instances a couple of examples were used in place of actual guided critical thinking skill procedures and actual theory with valuable content. In all, too basic and I don't believe the content is anything more than common sense.

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7 people found this helpful

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A copy on every device Invaluable for students

Loved It. I keep a copy on every device. Should be compulsory for all students and educated laymen. Great "cognitive fine tuning".

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6 people found this helpful

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There are no tigers in Africa

I love listening to these lectures and have done so on several occasions. The only thing that bugs me is the story about the tiger in Africa. Was that meant to deceive my mind?

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5 people found this helpful

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Fantastic..<br />

These lectures should be mandatory for everyone. For me, it resolved some cognitive dissonance I experienced observing the world around me.

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3 people found this helpful

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loved every bit of it, genius.

loved it looking for more from this author his inspiring and provides clarity on the brain.

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2 people found this helpful

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love the content and narrator

Great book. didn't know I was so biased thinking until after listening to this book. Really helped me think better.

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1 person found this helpful

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