Weaponized Lies: How to Think Critically in the Post-Truth Era

TL;DR Version: Everyone should read this book. Especially now.

I've seen some reviews lamenting that this isn't a book on the causes and nature of cognitive errors, and I agree that's a fascinating subject, but there are other books that address it. Weaponized Lies is, in essence, an entertaining beginning textbook on logic, fact checking, critical thinking, and information assessment. It makes every effort to teach these things and explain their importance in a concise and entertaining way, and, in terms of the lay audience, it seems to succeed admirably. Readers already familiar with these subjects may find it a bit slow, and those well versed in one or more of these areas may even be frustrated when the book doesn’t go further or even stray into areas it’s not actually designed to address. Daniel J. Levitin is a noted American/Canadian cognitive psychologist and neuroscientist. He’s also a musician, a record producer, and - of course - an author. He’s contributed to the Billboard Encyclopedia of Record Producers and edited Foundations of Cognitive Psychology: Core Readings, and written numerous academic articles and four bestsellers to date. The first two bestsellers were on music and the mind, which is not surprising, as Levitin is a noted expert in the field of music perception and cognition, but these books have a very broad footprint, touching on social behaviour, the development and evolution of language, and more. His third bestseller essentially seeks to explain how the brain works, how we perceive and think, and to teach how to do so more clearly and efficiently. Weaponized Lies seems to be a natural progression of this line of thought, addressing a cluster of cognitive issues that may, together, constitute most people’s greatest obstacle to effective thinking. In terms of scope, Weaponized Lies could be used as a secondary or possibly even primary textbook for a 100-level class on information analysis, critical thinking, and logic. While this isn’t a journal of groundbreaking research and theory, and there’s no i...