This is a great book to dip into if you want to avoid the logic traps and psuedo-science that pass for intelligent commentary online. The internet getting up in arms about foreigners taking jobs (or kicking a deer, in Japan)? Ah, that’s the salience effect at work. But also… we learn how our lives will be better with an understanding of why doctors do not expect a zebra when they hear hoofbeats, how averages are misleading, why the boat matters more than the rowing, hyperbolic discounting, the illusion of control and why you shouldn’t read the news, to grab a handful of chapter topics at random. And there are 99 five-page chapters to dip into. Original and deep? Not really, but it’s accessible, and even better, worth your time.
No. 7 of 24 books I intend to read and review in 2026.
I’m Patrick Sherriff, an Englishman who survived 13 years working for newspapers in the US, UK and Japan. Between teaching English lessons at my conversation school in Abiko, Japan, I write and illustrate textbooks for non-native speakers of English, release Hana Walker mystery novels, short stories, paint, and write essays and Our Man in Abiko, a monthly newsletter highlighting good writing in English, often about about Japan, art, crime fiction and teaching.
