Clear Thinking by Shane Parrish #
Clear Thinking, Shane Parrish (audio). I saw this book mentioned on a blog I read and my library had it available immediately as an audiobook (and a relatively short one) right before I set off on an international trip, so I decided to check it out. Expecting some relatively interesting cognitive science (the purpose of the trip in fact), I instead received pretty standard self-help platitudes about process vs outcome, what you can control, and things of that sort. (I don’t mean to belittle some of the ideas too much, but they were certainly old news to me. The target demographic seems to be a certain kind of corporate and/or military bro.) I almost stopped listening entirely when, in a lesson on personal accountability, the author parenthetically added: “Don’t blame the bus for being late. Get a car.” That sentiment so completely misses the point (we should be striving to ween the USA off of its car-dependence and providing reliable public transit, not shaming people who have to rely on an under-funded system). If it weren’t for the amount of time I was spending in airports and on trains, I would have left the book behind. Grade: C