Not Born Yesterday
The Science of Who We Trust and What We Believe

4th read: This is another one of those books that I read once a year because I love it so much. I’m a highly skeptical person who also has trust issues, and I just can’t figure out why so many people are gullible and fall for ridiculous scams and misinformation. Well, Mercier argues that humans aren’......more

This is the second book I read to hugo and its as great as the first one The enigma of reason, also they are the same at disproving an intuitive idea with solid argumentation.......more

This is a really important book. Mercier argues people aren't all that gullible. If anything, the problem is the opposite: we are difficult to convince of anything we don't already believe, because our passions usually rule our thoughts. Mercier draws on interesting empirical findings, and offers go......more

Mercier argues that people are not as gullible as some claim. It is noteworthy that many case studies of gullibility are often exaggerated or based on myths, such as the War of the Worlds broadcast or the more recent false claims that people drank bleach at Trump's suggestion. While Mercier acknowled......more

Book thesis: Humans aren’t as gullible as is commonly thought, and this gullibility doesn’t explain the range of false beliefs that humans exhibit. Rather, poor epistemics—or “open vigilance mechanisms”—explain these false beliefs, whether that’s because we engage in incorrect plausibility checking......more