This Will Make You Smarter: New Scientific Concepts to Improve Your Thinking (Edge Question Series) Paperback – February 14, 2012

Many of those who purchase and then begin to read this book will learn, for the first time, about Edge.org, a website offering an abundance of resources. John Brockman is the Editor of This Will Make You Smarter (2012) and This Explains Everything (2013). He is also the Editor and Publisher of Edge. As he explains, its purpose is to "arrive at the edge of the world's knowledge, seek out the most complex and sophisticated minds, put them in a room together, and have them ask each other the questions they are asking themselves."He goes on to suggest, "Edge is a Conversation: Edge is different from the Algonquin Roundtable or Bloomsbury Group, but it offers the same quality of intellectual adventure. Closer resemblances are the early seventeenth-century Invisible College, a precursor to the Royal Society. Its members consisted of scientists such as Robert Boyle, John Wallis, and Robert Hooke. The Society's common theme was to acquire knowledge through experimental investigation. Another inspiration is The Lunar Society of Birmingham, an informal club of the leading cultural figures of the new industrial age -- James Watt, Erasmus Darwin, Josiah Wedgewood, Joseph Priestly, and Benjamin Franklin."In 2011, those involved with Edge were asked to respond to a question proposed by Steven Pinker and seconded by Daniel Kahneman: "What scientific concept would improve everybody's cognitive toolkit?" Pinker ("Positive Sum Games") and Kahneman ("The Focusing Illusion") were also among the 160 contributors. David Brooks provided a Foreword, followed by Brockman's Preface in which he offers this clarification: "Here, the tern 'scientific' is to be understood in a broad sense -- as the most reliable way of gaining knowledge about anything, whether it be human behavior, corporate behavior, the fate of the planet, or the future of the universe."Here in Dallas near the downtown area, there is a Farmer's Market at which a few merchants offer slices of fresh fruit as samples. In that spirit, I now offer a few brief excerpts from the lively and eloquent narrative:o Richard Dawkins explains the need for "tools to help nonscientists understand science better and equip them to make better judgments throughout their lives." (Page 17)o Although the unconscious mind may be most of the mind, Jonah Lehrer observes, "we can still focus on those ideas that will help us succeed. In the end, this may be the only thing we can control." (48)o Kevin Kelly: "We can learn nearly as much from an experiment that doesn't work as from one that does. Failure is nit something to be avoided but something to be cultivated." (79)o Steven Pinker: "An explicit recognition among literate people of the shorthand abstraction 'positive sum game' and its relatives may be extending a process in the world of human choices that has been operating in the natural world for billions of years." (97)o Douglas T. Kenrick: "Thinking of the mind as composed of several functionally independent adaptive subselves helps us understand many apparent inconsistencies and irrationalities in human behavior." (131)o Alison Gopnik: "The greatest advantage of understanding the rational unconscious would be to demonstrate that rational discovery isn't a specialized abstruse privilege of the few we call scientists but is instead the evolutionary birthright of us all." (149)o Irene Pepperberg: "Given an understanding of our fixed-action pattern, and those of the individuals with whom we interact, we -- as humans with cognitive processing powers -- could begin to rethink our behavior patterns." (161)o Giulio Boccaletti: "By itself, [scale analysis] does not provide answers and is no substitute for deeper analysis. But it offers a powerful lens through which to view reality and to understand 'the order of things.'" (187)o Linda Stone: "Articulate, intelligent individuals can skillfully construct a convincing case to arguer almost any point if view" by narrowing our vision. "In contrast, projective thinking is expansive, 'open-ended,' and speculative, requiring the thinker to create the context, concepts, and the objectives." (240)o Victoria Stodden: "One interesting aspect of the phase transition is that it describes a shift to a state seemingly unrelated to the previous one and hence provides a model for phenomena that challenge our intuition." (371)These are but a few of hundreds of observations that caught my eye. I realize that no brief commentary such as mine can possibly do full justice to the scope of material that is provided in this volume but I hope that I have at least suggested why I think so highly of it. I also highly recommend the aforementioned This Explains Everything and, especially, checking out the ever-increasing wealth of resources at Edge.org. Thank you, John Brockman, for the thought leadership you and your Edge colleagues continue to provide. Bravo!

This Will Make You Smarter: 150 New Scientific Concepts to Improve Your Thinking by John Brockman"This Will Make You Smarter" is a thought-provoking book of scientific essays brought to you by The Edge that provides readers with better tools to think about the world. The Edge is an organization that presents original ideas by today's leading thinkers from a wide spectrum of scientific fields. The 2011 Edge question is, "What Scientific Concept Would Improve Everybody's Cognitive Toolkit?" This worthwhile 448-page book contains 151 short essays that address the question. The quality of these essays range from the obvious to the truly profound.For my sake, I created a spreadsheet of all the essays and graded them from zero to five stars based on quality. Five star essays are those that provide a great description of the author's favorite scientific concept. On the other hand, those receiving a one or even a zero represent essays that were not worthy of this book. Of course, this is just one reviewer's personal opinion. I basically reprised the same formula I used to review, "This Explains Everything".Positives:1. This series by "The Edge" always deliver a high-quality product.2. A great premise, "What Scientific Concept Would Improve Everybody's Cognitive Toolkit?"3. A great range of scientific topics: biology, genetics, computer science, neurophysiology, psychology, and physics.4. There were a number of outstanding essays deserving of five stars for me. I will list my favorites as positives in this review. In order of appearance, the first by P.Z. Myers' "The Mediocrity Principle". It discusses the importance of having basic math skills and accepting the notion that we aren't special. Sounds harsh on the surface but P.Z. won me over with his persuasive argument.5. Sean Carroll's "Pointless Universe". His contention is that the universe is not advancing toward a goal but is caught up in an unbreakable pattern.6. Max Tegmarr's "Promoting a Scientific Lifestyle". The need to educate the public on science. Hit on all the pertinent points with mastery.7. Kathryn Schulz's "The Pessimistic Meta-Induction from the History of Science". Makes the compelling case that there are no absolutes in science. Understanding that science is about constructing models rather than revealing reality.8. Jonah Lehrer's "Control Your Spotlight." Learning how to control short list of thoughts in working memory.9. Kevin Kelly's "Failure Liberates Success." Failures in science can lead to success.10. Steven Pinker's "Positive-Sum Games." A great explanation on the value of understanding positive-sum games.11. Rebecca Newberger Goldstein's "Inference to the Best Explanation." One of the best essays of the book. Explains what is behind the power of science.12. Donald Hoffman's "Our Sensory Desktop." The importance of refining our attitude toward our own perceptions.13. Michael Shermer's "Think Bottom Up, Not Top Down." Great explanation on emerging properties.14. Terrence Sejnowski's "Powers of 10." How to think about things in the world over a wide range of magnitudes and time scales.15. Guilio Boccaletti's "Scale Analysis." Understanding this concept can help us on many complex problems.16. Sam Harris's "We are Lost in Thought." The distorted views of the self.17. Sue Blackmore's "Correlation is not a Cause." The need to spread this concept to the public.18. Lee Smolin's "Thinking in Time Versus Thinking Outside of Time." Important and very little discussed topic, it's about time.19. Geoffrey Miller's "The Personality/Insanity Continuum." Very interesting topic.20. Mathew Ritchie's "Systematic Equilibrium." The second of thermodynamics applied.21. Mark Henderson's "Science Methods Aren't Just for Science." Solid defense of science.22. Scott D. Sampson's "Interbeing." Another one of my favorites.23. Satyajit Das's "Parallelism in Art and Commerce." A unique contribution.24. Vinod Khosla's "Black Swan Technologies." Low probability events with extreme impact.25. Fiery Cushman's "Understanding Confabulation." Understanding our own behavior.Negatives:1. Some essays were not worthy of this book. It's not my intent to denigrate any of these great minds so I'm not going to mention them by name. Thankfully just a few received zero or one stars.2. Some of my favorite authors let me down while others flourished.3. It requires an investment of time.In summary, I enjoy these kinds of books. The Edge does a wonderful job of selecting a thought-provoking question and an even better job of bringing in intellectuals from a wide range of fields to answer it. The search for knowledge is a fun and satisfying pursuit. Pick up this book and enjoy the ride.Further suggestions: "This Explains Everything: Deep, Beautiful, and Elegant Theories of How the World Works" by John Brockman, "A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather than Nothing" by Lawrence Krauss, "The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution" by Richard Dawkins, "The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements" by Sam Kean, "The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist's Quest for What Makes Us Human" by V.S. Ramachandran, "The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies" by Michael Shermer, "How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed" by Ray Kurzwell, "The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature" by Steven Pinker, "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared Diamond, "Why Evolution Is True" by Jerry A. Coyne, and "Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior" by Leonard Mlodinow.