The human mind is both brilliant and pathetic. We have mastered fire and have stood on the moon, and yet every one of us is fundamentally ignorant, irrational and prone to making simple mistakes every day.

'In The Knowledge Illusion, the cognitive scientists Steven Sloman and Philip Fernbach hammer another nail into the coffin of the rational individual . . . positing that not just rationality but the very idea of individual thinking is a myth.'
Yuval Harari, bestselling author of Sapiens and Homo Deus

In this groundbreaking book, cognitive scientists Steven Sloman and Philip Fernbach show how our success as a species is down to us living in a rich community of knowledge where we are drawing on information and expertise outside our heads. And we have no idea that we are even doing it.

Utilizing cutting-edge research, The Knowledge Illusion explains why we think we know more than we do, why beliefs are so hard to change and why we are so prone to making mistakes. Providing a blueprint for successful ways to work in collaboration to do amazing things, it reveals why the key to human intelligence lies in the way we think and work together.

People are a little like bees and society like a beehive: our intelligence resides not in individual brains but in the collective mind.

About the Author

Steven Sloman, who trained under world-renowned cognitive psychologist Amos Tversky, is a Professor of Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences at Brown University where he has worked since 1992. He is currently Editor-in-Chief of the journal Cognition.

Phil Fernbach is a cognitive scientist and professor of marketing at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He has written for and had his work profiled in numerous publications such as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and BBC World News.

Reviews
In The Knowledge Illusion, the cognitive scientists Steven Sloman and Philip Fernbach hammer another nail into the coffin of the rational individual . . . positing that not just rationality but the very idea of individual thinking is a myth. -- Yuval Harari, bestselling author of Sapiens and Homo Deus
Sloman and Fernbach offer clever demonstrations of how much we take for granted, and how little we actually understand . . . The book is stimulating, and any explanation of our current malaise that attributes it to cognitive failures - rather than putting it down to the moral wickedness of one group or another - is most welcome. Sloman and Fernbach are working to uproot a very important problem. * Financial Times *
We all know less than we think we do, including how much we know about how much we know. There's no cure for this condition, but there is a treatment: this fascinating book. The Knowledge Illusion is filled with insights on how we should deal with our individual ignorance and collective wisdom. -- Steven Pinker
We radically overestimate how much we know. In this fascinating book, Steven Sloman and Philip Fernbach examine the origin and consequences of this knowledge illusion, exploring both the extent of our ignorance and the clever ways in which we overcome it. This is an exceptionally clear and well-reasoned book, and it has some important and radical things to say about everything from the allure of stories to how iPhones make us smarter to the pros and cons of democracy. This is psychology at its best. -- Paul Bloom
I love this book. A brilliant, eye-opening treatment of how little each of us knows, and how much all of us know. It's magnificent, and it's also a lot of fun. Read it! -- Cass R. Sunstein, coauthor of Nudge and founder and director, Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy, Harvard Law School



Book Information
ISBN 9781509813087
Author Steven Sloman
Format Paperback
Page Count 304
Imprint Pan Books
Publisher Pan Macmillan
Weight(grams) 206g
Dimensions(mm) 196mm * 130mm * 19mm