This Will Make You Smarter: New Scientific Concepts to Improve Your Thinking

Written by John Brockman

Narrated by John Allen Nelson and Khristine Hvam

What scientific concept would improve everybody's cognitive toolkit? This is the question John Brockman, publisher of Edge.org, posed to the world's most influential thinkers. Their visionary answers flow from the frontiers of psychology, philosophy, economics, physics, sociology, and more. Surprising and enlightening, these insights will revolutionize the way you think about yourself and the world.



This Will Make You Smarter features Daniel Kahneman on the "focusing illusion"; Jonah Lehrer on controlling attention; Richard Dawkins on experimentation; Aubrey De Grey on conquering our fear of the unknown; Martin Seligman on the ingredients of well-being; Nicholas Carr on managing "cognitive load"; Steven Pinker on win-win negotiating; Daniel C. Dennett on benefiting from cycles; Jaron Lanier on resisting delusion; Frank Wilczek on the brain's hidden layers; Clay Shirky on the "80/20 rule"; Daniel Goleman on understanding our connection to the natural world; V. S. Ramachandran on paradigm shifts; Matt Ridley on tapping collective intelligence; John McWhorter on path dependence; Lisa Randall on effective theorizing; Brian Eno on "ecological vision"; Richard Thaler on rooting out false concepts; J. Craig Venter on the multiple possible origins of life; Helen Fisher on temperament; Sam Harris on the flow of thought; and Lawrence Krauss on living with uncertainty.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Apr 8, 2013
• ISBN: 9781452682501

John Brockman

The publisher of the online science salon Edge.org, John Brockman is the editor of Know This, This Idea Must Die, This Explains Everything, This Will Make You Smarter, and other volumes.

Reviews for This Will Make You Smarter

[bnewcomer-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Collections like this (particularly when they make the kinds of bold assertions this title does) usually seem to fall pretty flat. This one's pretty good, though. There are some stinkers, but other essays are really peculiar, and askew, and brain-stirring (and fun!). (see: Rushkoff, Zweig, Jacquet, Blackmore, Stone)

[Richard Fraser · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Astonishing how such start people can produce something so basic.

The question- what concept would be of highest leverage if widely understood? Is interesting. The responses are disappointing, the contributors give short basic essays with predictable answers, all of which are already common knowledge.

[mcrayearth · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A book worth a space in the shelf, fascinating diverse information, presented in a friendly digestible format

[dlmorrese · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a mixed bag of very short essays by various scientists, philosophers, business people, and writers. Some of the articles (I estimate about 25%) I found quite good and, if not exactly innovative or profound, at least thought provoking. Others were fairly interesting, and the rest, well, I'll just call them less inspired. The book is still a good read because, as the introduction states, it gives us a glimpse at what some of the world's most notable people in their fields are obsessed with.

[Anikó Bátori · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The best and most useful book I listened to in the last 6 months.

[jbarringer-2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book is a compilation of responses to a single question, what scientific concept would improve everybody's cognitive toolkit? While most of these brief essay responses are unlikely to provide much profoundly useful information for most readers, this book provides an interesting glimpse at the range of perspectives that thinkers in our society hold about themselves, their work, and the people within and outside their circles. Some of these responses seem to ignore the question entirely, using this exercise as a vehicle for talking about their current pet research question or to write about a pet peeve loosely related to science and society. Some of the responses display a condescending tone and lack of understanding of non-academics and non-scientists that nicely illustrates the tradeoffs that specialization carries for society and its experts. There are some interesting and powerful ideas as well within this book, covering a wide range of subjects, making this a good survey of ideas to browse when looking for new topics to read more about.

[Godfrey mutetse · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Parts to do with cognition, confabulation, duality of matter, natural selection and Darwin theories; some parts highly philosophical and beyond my scope of comprehension but challenging though. The language use is superb.

[Jeffrey Mills · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I can't listen to the narrator for long. He sounds like he is chewing on something while talking. Most of the essays are rather uninteresting, high school level, simplistic science. A lot of name dropping and not much solid content.

[sushicat-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very short entries (1-4 pages) on concepts scientists wish everybody understood as it would make communication easier or avoid misunderstanding or lead to better decision making - based on a question asked the members of edge.org. Perfect to read in snatches over a long period of time.

Probably the best question to ask to get answers that make for an interesting book. A lot of food for thoughts.

[leecalvink · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Some hits and misses here, my favourite of the former: kakonomics, risk-literacy, anthropocene thinking, keystone consumers, the umwelt, positive-sum games, and the idea that technologies have biases. Plenty for the mind to chew on and frame current issues with, some of the chapters and the explanations were a little hard to follow. I think what would have made this book better is if the editor took all these Thinkers ideas and paraphrased them all in his own words, at least that way the work would have a consistency to it.

[Liam Bachelor · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

If you know a lot of basic science... high school level science: not much will be new. But I love the way this guy reads. I have no idea the accent but it’s lovely.

[msbaba · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book formed the basis of a discussion group consisting of eight two-hour sessions. Before each class, members had to read 50 pages (i.e., about 20 essays). During the class, we’d discuss each essay as well as the professional career of the person who wrote the essay. The members of our discussion group were mostly very bright seniors retired from professions that required doctorate or masters degrees (e.g., aerospace engineers, doctors, physicists, mathematicians, high-tech professors, academic librarians, high school science teachers, etc.). The book provided a good framework for social and intellectual interaction among people who are used to finding pleasure through improving their minds. Most of the ideas in this book were not new to this group, but each was presented in a manner that caused us to think differently about the idea, especially as we explored them in a group context with a variety of different types of people from widely different science-related backgrounds.Everyone in the class agreed that the editor had “frontloaded” the best essays at the beginning. As we got toward the end of the class, the essays got significantly duller and less inspiring. For the most part, we enjoyed the book. In general, as a springboard for discussion, it was good--not stellar, just good. Many people in the class said that had they not taken the class, they’d still have enjoyed buying this book and having it around the house to read an essay now and then as a form of cerebral pleasure. Buying the book contributes to the online Edge organization (a private nonprofit foundation) dedicated to an important human endeavor, namely: to arrive at the edge of the world's knowledge, by seeking out the most complex and sophisticated minds, putting them in a room together, and having them ask each other the questions they are asking themselves. Reading the book is akin to participating in the conversation…albeit at a less lofty level. I enjoyed the book and most of all, our classroom discussions about the book.

[Psicocabra · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What if we ask the best minds in the world to tell us something cool? Well, that's what this book is about. Its title definitely lives up to what it promises. So if you want to be smarter, don't hesitate to read it. (Translated from Spanish)