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Book Recommendations for skeptics ?

hopkinsworld

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Aug 8, 2012
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So there are alot of junk books out there which have little or no value.

Can someone recommend good non-fiction self help, business books based on science ? Textbooks are great too.

Other subjects apart from self help are welcome too if they helped you in a certain way.

Here are some I found

59 Seconds: Change Your Life in Under a Minute - Richard Wiseman
Psychology Applied to Modern Life: Adjustment in the 21st Century - Wayne Weiten , Dana S Dunn et al.
Irrationality - Stuart Sutherland
Understanding Uncertainty - Dennis V. Lindley
Cognitive Science: An Introduction to the Science of the Mind - José Luis Bermúdez

Here are the rules:
See post 5 for clarification.
Posted By: Tricky


1. Post the title of your favorite textbook on a given subject.
2. You must have read at least two other textbooks on that same subject.
3. You must briefly name the other books you've read on the subject and explain why you think your chosen textbook is superior to them.

Rules #2 and #3 are to protect against recommending a bad book that only seems impressive because it's the only book you've read on the subject. Don't post a book just because it is exciting.
 
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hopkinsworld said:
So there are alot of junk books out there which have little or no value.

Can someone recommend good non-fiction self help, business books based on science ? Textbooks are great too.

...

Here are the rules:

1. Post the title of your favorite textbook on a given subject.
Click to expand...

The Bible! Changed my life!


2. You must have read at least two other textbooks on that same subject.

Rule [2 is] to protect against recommending a bad book that only seems impressive because it's the only book you've read on the subject. Don't post a book just because it is exciting.
Click to expand...

Nevermind.
 
As I'm naturally rebellious, I won't be following the rules...

I'd second the recommendation for Irrationality by Stuart Sutherland.

I'd add Cialdini's Influence: Science and Practice, which teaches readers about persuasion techniques (and includes ways to defend against them).

How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff and The Tiger That Isn't (Blastland, Dilnot) are useful for spotting numerical shenanigans and Gerd Gigerenzer's Reckoning With Risk explains how to make sense of numbers.

Ben Goldacre's Bad Science is an excellent read and helps to hone your BS detector.
 
I think I should remove the rules, there are not many submissions.

Just post your recommendations without following the rules.
 
hopkinsworld said:
Here are the rules:

1. Post the title of your favorite textbook on a given subject.
2. You must have read at least two other textbooks on that same subject.
3. You must briefly name the other books you've read on the subject and explain why you think your chosen textbook is superior to them.

Rules #2 and #3 are to protect against recommending a bad book that only seems impressive because it's the only book you've read on the subject. Don't post a book just because it is exciting.
Click to expand...


Just post your book recommendations without following the above rules.

Also see "The Best Textbooks on Every Subject"

http://lesswrong.com/lw/3gu/the_best_textbooks_on_every_subject/

http://astore.amazon.com/lukeprogcom-20
 
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"Why the toast always lands butter side down (The scientific reasons everything goes wrong)" by Richard Robinson.

http://www.amazon.com/Toast-Always-Lands-Butter-Side/dp/1845291247

The answer is actually found in page 208. The author doesn't tell you that it's all in your mind. Statistically, it only has a 50% chance of landing butter side down. But the problem is, you serve your toast butter side up on the plate. When it slips, it only has the distance to rotate half a turn before hitting the floor. How do you make the toast land butter side up. Robinson recommends that we wear stilts so that the toast can make a full rotation. I say we serve our toasts butter side down.

Outstanding book that makes you laugh at yourself and the infamous Murphy of Murphy's Law.
 
UNLoVedRebel wrote: also check out this forum...
Click to expand...

Great list. I was surprised they had "Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance," glad to see an interest in medicine.

I was also surprised that no one mentioned The Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan.

Others:

The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature by Stephen Pinker

Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration Into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel by Michio Kaku

Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely (also Upside of Irrationality by Dan Ariely)

Edit: Quirkology by Richard Wiseman

and

How We Know What Isn't So: The Fallibility of Human Reason in Everyday Life by Thomas Gilovich
 
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I like Pierson's choices. Also, our forum's founder has many good titles, as does Martin Gardner. Randi's books on faith-healing and Nostradamus were both very good.
 
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