Pathways to Wisdom: the Risky Adventure of Expanding One’s Horizons
How six books on cosmology, human nature, consciousness, stories and thermodynamics challenge the faith of a progressive Christian.
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Issue: Dialogue
The Enigma of Reason: A New Theory of Human Understanding
‘Mercier and Sperber offer a surprising and powerful response to the new orthodoxy propounded by Kahneman and Tversky … arguing that the supposed flaws of hot, fast, automatic thinking are actually design features which work remarkably well’ Julian Baggini
Reason, we are told, is what makes us human, the source of our knowledge and wisdom. But, if reason is so useful, why didn’t it also evolve in other animals? If it is that reliable, why do we produce so much thoroughly reasoned nonsense?
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The Believing Brain: From Spiritual Faiths to Political Convictions – How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths
Synthesizing thirty years of research, psychologist and science historian, Michael Shermer upends the traditional thinking about how humans form beliefs about the world. Simply put, beliefs come first and explanations for beliefs follow. The brain, Shermer argues, is a belief engine. Using sensory data that flow in through the senses, the brain naturally looks for and finds patterns – and then infuses those patterns with meaning, forming beliefs. Once beliefs are formed, our brains subconsciously seek out confirmatory evidence in support of those beliefs, which accelerates the process of reinforcing them, and round and round the process goes in a positive-feedback loop. — Amazon.co.uk
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Stories We Tell Ourselves: Making Meaning in a Meaningless Universe
Throughout history we have told ourselves stories to try and make sense of what it all means: our place in a small corner of one of billions of galaxies, at the end of billions of years of existence. In this new book Richard Holloway takes us on a personal, scientific and philosophical journey to explore what he believes the answers to the biggest of questions are. He examines what we know about the universe into which – without any choice in the matter – we are propelled at birth and from which we are expelled at death, the stories we have told about where we come from, and the stories we tell to get through this muddling experience of life.
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Humble Inquiry: The Gentle Art of Asking Instead of Telling
Communication is essential in a healthy organization. But all too often when we interact with people—especially those who report to us—we simply tell them what we think they need to know. This shuts them down. To generate bold new ideas, to avoid disastrous mistakes, to develop agility and flexibility, we need to practice Humble Inquiry.
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