Stop Being Reasonable, Eleanor GordonSmith
Stop Being Reasonable, Eleanor GordonSmith
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Stop Being Reasonable
How We Really Change Our Minds

Author: Eleanor Gordon-Smith

Narrator: Brittany Wilkerson

Unabridged: 5 hr 30 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: PublicAffairs

Published: 10/22/2019


Synopsis

A thought-provoking exploration of how people really change their minds, and how persuasion is possible.

In Stop Being Reasonable, Eleanor Gordon-Smith weaves a narrative that illustrates the limits of human reason.

Here, she tells the stories of people who have radically altered their beliefs--from the woman who had to reckon with her husband's terrible secret to the man who finally left the cult he had been raised in since birth. Gordon-Smith shows how we can change the course of our own lives, and asks: what made someone change course? How should their reversals affect how we think about our own beliefs? And in an increasingly divided world, what do they teach us about how we might change the minds of others?
Inspiring, perceptive, and moving, Stop Being Reasonable explores why resistance to evidence is often rooted in self-preservation and fear, why we feel shame in admitting we are wrong, and why who we believe is often more important than what we believe. This fascinating book will completely change the way you look at the power of persuasion.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Don on June 27, 2019

I obviously misunderstood. I thought I was invited to dinner, but it turned out to be a late afternoon tea. Instead of a 3 course dinner I was given a cup of tea and a plate of Tim Tams. Gordon-Smith's book 'Stop Being Reasonable" is jauntily presented, sweetly written and easily digested, but lacks......more

Goodreads review by Adam on June 26, 2021

One of the greatest books I've had the pleasure of reading. Gordon-Smith's main idea is that our society idolizes "rational debate" as the gold standard of how to change minds. Sure, in practice, people are more convinced by emotional arguments, by what their peers think, by what it's convenient to......more

Goodreads review by Ell on June 16, 2019

I must admit I had a hard time getting into this book at first. It just seemed to me that the author devoted far too much time to the issue of catcalling (I deducted one star for precisely this). Just as I was going to give up on this book, I found myself in a waiting room, so I decided to read on.......more

Goodreads review by Michael on January 24, 2020

Short, witty and clear look at what philosophy has to say about how people change their minds, illustrated with some fascinating case studies. It's a lovely little book that doesn't outstay its welcome while putting together a really compelling case that our idea of 'reason' is pretty problematic.......more

Goodreads review by chantel on April 02, 2021

Incredibly insightful. Eleanor Gordon-Smith’s mind is sharp as a knife. Stop Being Reasonable is infinitely readable, opened up my views and made me consider the moments that I overly engage in being rigid or reasonable (and even agreeable) to an absolutely unnecessary degree. It highlights when we......more