Summary: Reading this book will make you less sure
of yourself-and that's a good thing. In The Invisible Gorilla, we
use a wide assortment of stories and counterintuitive scientific findings to
reveal an important truth: Our minds don't work the way we think they do. We
think we see ourselves and the world as they really are, but we're actually
missing a whole lot.
We combine the work of other researchers with
our own findings on attention, perception, memory, and reasoning to reveal how
faulty intuitions often get us into trouble. In the process, we explain:
- Why
a company would spend billions to launch a product that its own analysts
know will fail
- How
a police officer could run right past a brutal assault without seeing it
- Why
award-winning movies are full of editing mistakes
- What
criminals have in common with chess masters
- Why
measles and other childhood diseases are making a comeback
- Why
money managers could learn a lot from weather forecasters
Again and again, we think we experience and
understand the world as it is, but our thoughts are beset by everyday
illusions. We write traffic laws and build criminal cases on the assumption
that people will notice when something unusual happens right in front of them.
We're sure we know where we were on 9/11, falsely believing that vivid memories
are seared into our mind with perfect fidelity. And as a society, we spend
billions on devices to train our brains because we're continually tempted by
the lure of quick fixes and effortless self-improvement.
The Invisible Gorilla reveals the numerous ways that our intuitions
can deceive us, but it's more than a catalog of human failings. In the book, we
also explain why people succumb to these everyday illusions and what we can do
to inoculate ourselves against their effects. In short, we try to give you a
sort of "x-ray vision" into your own minds, with the ultimate goal of
helping you notice the invisible gorillas in your own life.
Angie's comments: This is a quick, easy, and entertaining
read that will change how you view humans, especially yourself. Christopher
Chabris and Daniel Simons use fascinating examples to show how our intuition
can be wrong. There were many times I thought “I would do better” or “That
can’t be right.” Fortunately, Chabris and Simons also include examples of how
their intuitions failed them, making it easier to accept my own failures.
After
reading this book, I realized that there are many things I don’t notice and
things I think I know but really don’t know. I (and other humans) do not always
notice what our eyes see; base decisions on the say-so of a highly confident
person, even though confidence isn’t as important as the facts; and don’t
remember the past accurately. Where was I and what was I doing when I heard about 9/11? If you
ask, I can tell you, but is it really right? Not likely. Remember the family
gathering you last went to? If you talk with people who were there, it might
appear that everyone was at a different gathering!
The Invisible Gorilla is best for readers interested
in psychology or people who want to become more aware of their own human
errors. The book is written for people who don’t have a background in
psychology, so it doesn't use jargon and the authors explain their examples
thoroughly.
