Why flawed logic puts us all at risk, and how critical thinking can save the world.

It may seem a big claim, butknowing how to think clearlyand criticallyhas literally helped save the world. In September 1983, at the height of the Cold War, the Soviet Union's early warning system showed five US missiles heading towards the country. Stanislaw Petrov knew his duty: he was to inform Moscow that nuclear war had begun, so that they could launch an immediate and devastating response. Instead, he made a call to say the system was faulty. He'd assessed the situation and reasoned that an error was more likely than such a limited attack.

We may not have to save the planet from nuclear annihilation, of course, butour ability to think critically has never been more important. In a world wherefake news,mistrust of experts, prejudice and ignorance all too often hold sway, we can all too easily be misled. We live in an era where access to all the knowledge in the world is at our fingertips, yet that also means misinformation and falsehoods can spread further and faster than ever before.

InThe Irrational Ape, David Robert Grimes shows howwe can be lured into making critical mistakesor drawing false conclusions, andhow to avoid such errors. Given the power of modern science and the way that movements can unite to protest a cause viasocial media, we are in dangerous times. But fortunately, we can learn from our mistakes, and by critical thinking and scientific method we can discover how to apply these techniques to everything from deciding what insurance to buy to averting global disaster.This book, packed with fascinating case studies and examples, helps ensure we are ready for the modern world.

Year: 2019Edition: HardcoverPublisher: Simon & Schuster UKLanguage: englishPages: 320ISBN 10: 1471178250ISBN 13: 9781471178252File: EPUB, 3.80 MB