Scan barcode
alok_pandey's review against another edition
4.0
I came across Prof. Alan Jacobs while reading an article written by him in The Atlantic. He is a conservative(as per the currently prevailing definitions) and was advocating against having dedicated conservative universities as a remedy to counter the existing liberal bias in the academia. This intellectual integrity is pretty uncommon these days, and quite hard to nurture and sustain even for one's own self.
This book helped me understand him further. Reason and ideology have often been perceived as anti-thesis to each other. Ideology is notorious for making people blind to reason. Reading Prof. Jacobs allowed me to accept a possibility that reason can be used to refine ideology. Ideology is nothing but a set of ideas, a framework we use to look at the outer world, interpret and understand it, and consequentially respond to it. Now what better tool than reason, to sharpen those ideas.
But Prof. Jacobs also criticises blind adherence to reason as well. Even sticking to reason needs to pass the test of reasonability.
Prof. Jacobs writes about usual conflicts we are witnessing today in the world of communication - needlessly fiery debates, acrimonious online/offline scuffles, raging competitive battles between ideological sects, etc. - and he attributes most of them to the root cause of 'not thinking properly'.
There are a lot of barriers, voluntary and involuntary, that impede the process of effective and efficient thinking. These could be psychological, sociological or even techno-structural. He addresses all these in a systematic manner, providing plenty of real-life examples.
What I found refreshing is that the book doesn't do all this using routine list of confirmation/logical biases and associated jargon. Jacobs uses a mix of theories and stories sprinkled with his own observations on how humans think and how they ought to be. He also demolishes some established axioms and does reasonably well.
Most of the work surely looked derivative, sourced/inspired from other works but I won't hold that against Jacobs. A lot has been done already in the field, and numerous articles are being dumped everywhere on similar topics everyday. What this book does so well is putting many of those in context and then adding some unconventional take on the same. It's a worthwhile read that I will definitely like to revisit again soon.
This book helped me understand him further. Reason and ideology have often been perceived as anti-thesis to each other. Ideology is notorious for making people blind to reason. Reading Prof. Jacobs allowed me to accept a possibility that reason can be used to refine ideology. Ideology is nothing but a set of ideas, a framework we use to look at the outer world, interpret and understand it, and consequentially respond to it. Now what better tool than reason, to sharpen those ideas.
But Prof. Jacobs also criticises blind adherence to reason as well. Even sticking to reason needs to pass the test of reasonability.
Prof. Jacobs writes about usual conflicts we are witnessing today in the world of communication - needlessly fiery debates, acrimonious online/offline scuffles, raging competitive battles between ideological sects, etc. - and he attributes most of them to the root cause of 'not thinking properly'.
There are a lot of barriers, voluntary and involuntary, that impede the process of effective and efficient thinking. These could be psychological, sociological or even techno-structural. He addresses all these in a systematic manner, providing plenty of real-life examples.
What I found refreshing is that the book doesn't do all this using routine list of confirmation/logical biases and associated jargon. Jacobs uses a mix of theories and stories sprinkled with his own observations on how humans think and how they ought to be. He also demolishes some established axioms and does reasonably well.
Most of the work surely looked derivative, sourced/inspired from other works but I won't hold that against Jacobs. A lot has been done already in the field, and numerous articles are being dumped everywhere on similar topics everyday. What this book does so well is putting many of those in context and then adding some unconventional take on the same. It's a worthwhile read that I will definitely like to revisit again soon.
oschrock's review against another edition
5.0
Excellent book and I highly recommend it for everyone!
heddsomewhere's review against another edition
5.0
I appreciate a well-written, yet short book. The things Jacobs discusses in this book will challenge conversation in our household for a while. It was refreshing to hear a healthy aproach to our thinking.
As I enjoyed Alan Jacobs' [b:The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of C.S. Lewis|660367|The Narnian The Life and Imagination of C.S. Lewis|Alan Jacobs|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1442198355l/660367._SY75_.jpg|1732054], he did not disappoint me with this book either.
As I enjoyed Alan Jacobs' [b:The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of C.S. Lewis|660367|The Narnian The Life and Imagination of C.S. Lewis|Alan Jacobs|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1442198355l/660367._SY75_.jpg|1732054], he did not disappoint me with this book either.
mattwhitby's review
2.0
The main issue I have with this book is the author's insistence in stating that no one can think independently, because this is obviously demonstrably a false assertion. There are countless other things I believe to be wrong about his arguments, but they were sufficiently irritating to make me lose any confidence I might have in the more interesting parts of the book.
skyeingram's review
challenging
hopeful
informative
reflective
fast-paced
3.5
a brief dive into the fallibility of human thought and how this is being heightened by the rise of social media. However, Jacobs maintains an optimistic tone about how we can counteract our tendency to construct RPOs (repugnant cultural others) and constructively engage with those who have adverse views to our own - even on deeply personal issues.
ramonnogueras's review
5.0
Alan Jacobs es un exquisito pensador, y su newsletter "Snakes & Ladders" es un tesoro. En este breve libro, Jacobs nos hace pensar sobre cómo pensamos, y sobre cómo desde el punto de vista de las humanidades podemos pensar mejor, en un entorno en el que todo conspira para que no pensemos.
El estilo de Jacobs es claro, y sencillo, pero la amplitud de la cultura y las referencias que maneja es enorme. Construye su argumento de modo meticuloso, y lo cierto es que muchas de sus máximas son perfectamente aplicables tal cual las describe.
Es un libro para leer y releer, y recordar lo importante que es pensar de manera clara y correcta. En breve pillaré el resto de sus obras, empezando por una acerca de cómo leer.
El estilo de Jacobs es claro, y sencillo, pero la amplitud de la cultura y las referencias que maneja es enorme. Construye su argumento de modo meticuloso, y lo cierto es que muchas de sus máximas son perfectamente aplicables tal cual las describe.
Es un libro para leer y releer, y recordar lo importante que es pensar de manera clara y correcta. En breve pillaré el resto de sus obras, empezando por una acerca de cómo leer.
robram's review
4.0
I confess I wasn't sure about this when I started and it took me a while to get into it. However, it contains a lot of thought-provoking writing (as you'd expect) and - by the end - convinced me of the need to take a different approach. Good read.
More...