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A review by theconstantreader
Stop Being Reasonable by Eleanor Gordon-Smith
4.0
Gordon-Smith outlines "the proper way to reason, at least according to our present ideal, is to discard ego and emotion" and then sets about to test its sufficiency with several, super interesting, real life examples. Reading this book made me want her job.
I have long been a believer that if only I could leapfrog over emotion could I be an unstoppable powerhouse for progress. The social constructs laid out as the foundation of this book suggest I am not alone. It is this thinking that reason is the apogee that has "altogether more to do with selling us... an anaesthetised dream if an optimised future where... nothing hurts". But is this even real?
Gordon-Smith does a very entertaining job of demonstrating that no, it probably isn't. We are flawed and our personal biases end up popping up everywhere we look, including inside our deepest values and beliefs. As a result, being reasonable becomes subjective to each and every one of us. Suddenly being reasonable can't equal being unemotional because even when we justify a decision as being reasonable there are likely countless emotional ties shaping what we see when we look down the periscope of our 'reasonable' lens.
Throughout the book weighty themes like prejudice, power, self-knowing, trust, memory and love are brought forth to test nuances to this argument. They are really engaging, some of them moving and the way Gordon-Smith weaves them together is nicely done. However, from time-to-time (I have to agree with another reviewer on this) it did feel like Gordon-Smith wanted us all to know how funny and smart she was but the thing was that I liked her.
I have long been a believer that if only I could leapfrog over emotion could I be an unstoppable powerhouse for progress. The social constructs laid out as the foundation of this book suggest I am not alone. It is this thinking that reason is the apogee that has "altogether more to do with selling us... an anaesthetised dream if an optimised future where... nothing hurts". But is this even real?
Gordon-Smith does a very entertaining job of demonstrating that no, it probably isn't. We are flawed and our personal biases end up popping up everywhere we look, including inside our deepest values and beliefs. As a result, being reasonable becomes subjective to each and every one of us. Suddenly being reasonable can't equal being unemotional because even when we justify a decision as being reasonable there are likely countless emotional ties shaping what we see when we look down the periscope of our 'reasonable' lens.
Throughout the book weighty themes like prejudice, power, self-knowing, trust, memory and love are brought forth to test nuances to this argument. They are really engaging, some of them moving and the way Gordon-Smith weaves them together is nicely done. However, from time-to-time (I have to agree with another reviewer on this) it did feel like Gordon-Smith wanted us all to know how funny and smart she was but the thing was that I liked her.