Think with Pinker
How to Be a Better Critical Thinker
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Think with Pinker
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Written by:
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Steven Pinker
About this listen
Steven Pinker's 12-part guide to thinking better
'A paean to human potential' The Telegraph
Cognitive scientist Professor Steven Pinker has spent his life thinking about thinking, and now he wants us to join him. With the aid of his critical thinking toolkit, he hopes to help us make smarter choices, become more rational, gain a greater understanding of the confused world we live in - and maybe even become better citizens.
In this fascinating series, produced in partnership with the Open University, he examines the different ways the human brain can be tripped up, from understanding probability to the difference between correlation and causation. Joined by an array of other prominent thinkers, he explores such diverse subjects as whether formulas can predict how well an athlete will perform, why it's dangerous to see patterns in the randomness of everyday experience and why so many of us believe in conspiracy theories.
He also considers the life and death choices made by judges and juries, ponders whether some thoughts are too evil to think, asks why making future predictions can be hard, and wonders: should we eat, drink and be merry, or make sacrifices now to benefit our future selves? And what can the game 'Rock, Paper, Scissors' teach us about preventing a climate catastrophe? In addition, he and his fellow experts discuss how we can stop the news distorting our understanding of the world - and why getting it right might mean admitting you're wrong...
Among his special guests are Tim Harford, presenter of BBC Radio 4's More or Less; Pulitzer Prize-winning author Siddartha Mukherjee; Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Professor Hannah Fry, co-presenter of Radio 4's popular science show The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry; Daniel Kahneman, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics; and one of the most influential psychologists of the 20th Century, Elizabeth Loftus.
Production credits
Presented by Steven Pinker
Produced by Imogen Walford and Joe Kent
Edited by Emma Rippon
Think with Pinker is produced in partnership with The Open University
Episode 1: Think twice
Featuring: Sig Mejdal and Professor Ellen Peters
Episode 2: Methinks it is a weasel
Featuring: Charlie Munger and Tim Harford
Episode 3: In touch with reality
Featuring: Jonathan Rauch and Ellen Cushing
Episode 4: Don't expect a zebra
Featuring: Talithia Williams and Siddartha Mukherjee
Episode 5: You can't think that!
Featuring: Philip Tetlock and Sally Satel
Episode 6: Future you
Featuring: Dr Maria Kournikova and Bina Venkataraman
Episode 7: The climate game
Featuring: Bill Gates and Professor Hannah Fry
Episode 8: Rational soothsaying
Featuring: Barbara Mellers and Thomas Friedman
Episode 9: Nudges and noise
Featuring: Daniel Kahneman and Robyn Scott
Episode 10: Sentence first, verdict afterwards
Featuring: Judge Nancy Gertner and Elizabeth Loftus
Episode 11: Headlines and trendlines
Featuring: James Harding and Anna Rosling Rutland
Episode 12: Being right
Featuring: Julia Galef and Daniel Willingham
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 18 November 2021 - 3 February 2022
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- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 103
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 79
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Dull and Underwhelming .
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 61
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 47
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 48
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- Narrated by: Steven Novella
- Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 346
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 290
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 286
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5 out of 5 stars
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- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 36 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 169
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 141
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 137
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- Narrated by: Dean Olsher
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 12
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 10
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Story4 out of 5 stars 9
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1 out of 5 stars
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It’s not in Steven Pinkers written words
- By Lory Nixon on 2019-05-05
Written by: Steven Pinker
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The Blank Slate
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- Written by: Steven Pinker
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 22 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 149
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 125
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 123
In The Blank Slate, Steven Pinker, one of the world's leading experts on language and the mind, explores the idea of human nature and its moral, emotional, and political colorings. With characteristic wit, lucidity, and insight, Pinker argues that the dogma that the mind has no innate traits, denies our common humanity and our individual preferences, replaces objective analyses of social problems with feel-good slogans, and distorts our understanding of politics, violence, parenting, and the arts.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating study of human cognition
- By Stéphane on 2018-10-27
Written by: Steven Pinker
What the critics say
"A paean to human potential." (The Telegraph)
What listeners say about Think with Pinker
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Anton Vikoch
- 2022-12-29
Disappointing list of topics and depth
Disappointing list of topics and depth of discussion for anyone expecting Steven Pinkers typical thoroughness.
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