The Intelligence Trap, David Robson
The Intelligence Trap, David Robson
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The Intelligence Trap
Why Smart People Make Dumb Mistakes

Author: David Robson

Narrator: Simon Slater

Unabridged: 10 hr 19 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 08/06/2019

Synopsis

“As a rule, I have found that the greater brain a man has, and the better he is educated, the easier it has been to mystify him.”—Harry Houdini to Arthur Conan Doyle

An eye-opening examination of the stupid things smart people do—and how to cultivate skills to protect ourselves from error.

Smart people are not only just as prone to making mistakes as everyone else, they may be even more susceptible to them. This is the “intelligence trap,” the subject of David Robson’s fascinating and provocative book.

The Intelligence Trap explores cutting-edge ideas in our understanding of intelligence and expertise, including “strategic ignorance,” “meta-forgetfulness,” and “functional stupidity.” Robson reveals the surprising ways that even the brightest minds and most talented organizations can go wrong—from some of Thomas Edison’s worst ideas to failures at NASA, Nokia, and the FBI. And he offers practical advice to avoid mistakes based on the timeless lessons of Benjamin Franklin, Richard Feynman, and Daniel Kahneman.

“The Intelligence Trap combines mesmerizing storytelling with groundbreaking new research about why having a high IQ can backfire. Essential reading for anyone who wants to think more clearly.”—Rolf Dobelli, author of The Art of Thinking Clearly

About David Robson

David Robson is an award-winning science writer based in the United Kingdom. A graduate of Cambridge University, he previously worked as an editor at New Scientist and a senior journalist at the BBC. His writing has appeared in the Guardian, the Atlantic, Men's Health, the Psychologist, the Washington Post, and many other publications. His first book, The Intelligence Trap, was published in 2019 and has been translated into fifteen languages.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Nursebookie on April 21, 2020

Robson is a brilliant writer who presented this idea on how and why intelligent people make stupid mistakes and how to avoid it. This book, “The Intelligent Trap” should be required reading for any professional or expert in any field from business, to healthcare or academia and anything else in betw......more

Goodreads review by Ogi on March 24, 2019

My ratings of books on Goodreads are solely a crude ranking of their utility to me, and not an evaluation of literary merit, entertainment value, social importance, humor, insightfulness, scientific accuracy, creative vigor, suspensefulness of plot, depth of characters, vitality of theme, excitement......more

Goodreads review by Ashok on May 01, 2021

A couple of months ago, I came across a post on LinkedIn, where a senior professional with an IIM degree had shared a post about an Indian student. This student, in his late teens, was said to have secured two patents in his name already and he was also said to have rejected the invitation from the......more

Goodreads review by Daniel on November 15, 2020

Why do smart people make mistakes? 1. Lack of tacit knowledge and counter-factual thinking. 2. Dysrationalia, motivated reasoning, bias blind spot. More information just makes intelligent people more stuck to their opinion. Some smart people are very gullible. 3. Earned dogmatism: hubris. 4. Entrench......more

Goodreads review by Tadas on August 07, 2019

Well, "smart people" do know about cognitive biases and thus are less likely to make dumb mistakes. Author just doesn't compare with the control group, so the conclusion "about smart people making dumb mistakes" is maybe/ unknown/ undefined. Also, author maybe talks about "smart" who are unconscious......more

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