Think Again
The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know
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4.5 • 807 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
#1 New York Times Bestseller
“THIS. This is the right book for right now. Yes, learning requires focus. But, unlearning and relearning requires much more—it requires choosing courage over comfort. In Think Again, Adam Grant weaves together research and storytelling to help us build the intellectual and emotional muscle we need to stay curious enough about the world to actually change it. I’ve never felt so hopeful about what I don’t know.”
—Brené Brown, Ph.D., #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dare to Lead
The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Hidden Potential, Originals, and Give and Take examines the critical art of rethinking: learning to question your opinions and open other people's minds, which can position you for excellence at work and wisdom in life
Intelligence is usually seen as the ability to think and learn, but in a rapidly changing world, there's another set of cognitive skills that might matter more: the ability to rethink and unlearn. In our daily lives, too many of us favor the comfort of conviction over the discomfort of doubt. We listen to opinions that make us feel good, instead of ideas that make us think hard. We see disagreement as a threat to our egos, rather than an opportunity to learn. We surround ourselves with people who agree with our conclusions, when we should be gravitating toward those who challenge our thought process. The result is that our beliefs get brittle long before our bones. We think too much like preachers defending our sacred beliefs, prosecutors proving the other side wrong, and politicians campaigning for approval--and too little like scientists searching for truth. Intelligence is no cure, and it can even be a curse: being good at thinking can make us worse at rethinking. The brighter we are, the blinder to our own limitations we can become.
Organizational psychologist Adam Grant is an expert on opening other people's minds--and our own. As Wharton's top-rated professor and the bestselling author of Originals and Give and Take, he makes it one of his guiding principles to argue like he's right but listen like he's wrong. With bold ideas and rigorous evidence, he investigates how we can embrace the joy of being wrong, bring nuance to charged conversations, and build schools, workplaces, and communities of lifelong learners. You'll learn how an international debate champion wins arguments, a Black musician persuades white supremacists to abandon hate, a vaccine whisperer convinces concerned parents to immunize their children, and Adam has coaxed Yankees fans to root for the Red Sox. Think Again reveals that we don't have to believe everything we think or internalize everything we feel. It's an invitation to let go of views that are no longer serving us well and prize mental flexibility over foolish consistency. If knowledge is power, knowing what we don't know is wisdom.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
We’ve often heard the saying that you should go with your first instinct, whether you’re picking out a paint color or answering an SAT question. But organizational psychologist Adam Grant is here to prove that this kind of thinking may be wrong. Using case studies about the decline of Blackberry and a tragic string of accidents at NASA, he reveals how disastrous it can be to simply make the choice that “feels right” or “has always been done this way.” The data proves that snap decisions don’t come from some sort of unconscious brilliance—more like bias and overconfidence. But there’s hope! Grant offers suggestions on learning to use critical thinking instead of instinct, and we particularly loved his advice on creating a psychological safety zone where questions are encouraged and failure isn’t the end of the world. It turns out changing your mind doesn’t make you indecisive—it makes you smart.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"Our ways of thinking become habits that can weigh us down, and we don't bother to question them until it's too late," warns psychologist Grant (The Gift Inside the Box) in this energetic guide. Learning to question one's assumptions requires a high level of "mental fitness," he writes, which can be learned. To that end, he urges readers to stay flexible and adapt to change by identifying and managing such emotions as defensiveness and anger. Grant offers no shortage of examples of people who have managed to change their own or others' minds, or those who have failed: Daryl Davis, for example, is a Black man who brought KKK members out of Klan membership by engaging them in thoughtful conversation, while Mike Lazaridis of Blackberry failed to adapt when he insisted no one would want an "entire computer" on their phone. In the way of advice, Grant encourages readers to develop intellectual humility, accept criticism of their work, and have a "challenge network" to prevent tunnel vision. Grant convincingly makes a case that it's possible to prevent "locking our life GPS onto a single target can give us the right directions to the wrong destination." His guide is reliably lively, convincing, and approachable.
Customer Reviews
Question Everything
I was reminded of the quote, “all things change in a dynamic environment, your effort to remain what you are is what limits you.” In the case of Think Again, not being open to changing your mind is a limiting decision. At a larger, Adam Grant is commenting on a society stuck in its partisan echo chambers. Both sides limited by an unwillingness to change.
To be truly wise is to know you do not and can not know everything. Expertise is the life long pursuit of learning in a specific field rather than knowing everything there is in a specific field. Adam Grant places scientific inquiry right in the middle of these two states. Through many studies and examples he shows how the citizen scientist is not stuck in their thinking.
Indeed, Grant’s structuring of the book underlines the key technique you take away from it. Assume you are wrong and keep asking questions. Almost every chapter circles back to that very premise, what if I am wrong and how can I ask a better question to someone who disagrees with me. Thought provoking and practical. A good read for anyone.
Great book
Simple and easy to read. Opened my mind to appreciating complexity and revisiting my approaches.
Enjoyable read
Quick read about the power of rethinking in daily life, and the benefits of thinking like a scientist instead of preaching, politicking and prosecuting.