The Age of Magical Overthinking

Can't tell you what I learned... BUT The alliteration alone made me THROUGHLY enjoy this book.

There were moments where I was bored or confused but overall, a great listen and being read by the author makes it a special treat.

I'm not sure what Amanda Montell was trying to accomplish here. I liked-didn't-love [b:Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism 55338982 Cultish The Language of Fanaticism Amanda Montell https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1603741877l/55338982.SX50.jpg 86301080], but at least that had a concrete topic. This book is a haphazard combination of memoir, Cognitive Psychology 101, and advertisement for Montell's podcast. YMMV if you've never heard of the sunk cost fallacy or confirmation bias.

Summary: In each chapter of this book, Amanda Montell addresses a different logical fallacy to which those of us living in the twenty-first century frequently fall victim. She explains the evolutionary advantage that she and other experts believe each fallacy gave our ancestors, and she goes on to explain why these fallacies no longer serve us and how we can avoid falling prey to them.

Some of Montell’s claims might be difficult for readers who are religious to fully agree with, but I think that all readers can benefit from understanding the ways in which we can fool ourselves.

I have mixed feelings about this one but ultimately feel like I wanted to like it more than I actually did

Readable and engaging, but I felt like Cultish had a lot to say about one concept whereas this had a medium-to-low amount to say about many concepts. Ended up skimming more than I'd usually like. Montell is still a boss.

Great book! Highly recommend to anyone interested in learning more about cognitive biases! (And who doesn't wanna commit to Thinking Fast and Slow by Kahneman which is yes much more detailed but also much more academic and denser)
With my own background I knew most of what the author was talking about (down to the exact studies she was citing), which is why I didn't take as much away from the book as I wished but I loved the way she drew connections between the biases and our everyday life in an extremely skilled and relatable manner - hat off for that!

Love Amanda's writing and voice (and her other two books and her pod) sadly this one didn't hit for me as much as her other works — I think I that the a little bit memoir a little bit nonfiction/informative didn't work for me here

I've enjoyed the previous 2 books from this author (Wordslut and Cultish) and this was just as good!

Clearly very well researched and delivered in an enjoyable and accessible way, her style of non-fiction will always work for me.

I knew a little about some of the topics covered here but I liked learning more about them with the backing of research studies. Most were new to me and were eye opening (and definitely confirmed a lot of the reasons I dislike social media).