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How to Think by Alan Jacobs

In this frenetic world of information and gadgetry, we often promote arguments and ideas without properly thinking about what we are saying and how we are saying it.  Alan Jacobs, Professor at Baylor University’s Honors Program, gives us a pungent dose of sane wisdom on how to think in almost any given situation, including when we want to slam our opponents head against the wall with some overblown illogical and unfair verbal argument and need help.  Drawing from C.S. Lewis, Dorothy Sayers, Daniel Kahneman and others, Alan paints a broad picture of how unthinking brings the whole society down and how clear thinking aided by emotion can bring back a sense of flourishing among human beings.

Jacobs posits in the introduction of the book that it is not so much a matter of rational or irrational thinking that is the problem, but something altogether different.  He writes, “For me, the fundamental problem we have may best be described as an orientation of the will: we suffer from a settled determination to avoid thinking.  Relatively few people want to think.  Thinking troubles us; thinking tires us.  Thinking can force us out of familiar, comforting habits; thinking can complicate our lives; thinking can set us at odds, or at least complicate our relationships, with those who we admire or love or follow.  Who needs thinking?” (17)  The will often groans from mere exertion and so much exertion is a task we are not willing to take on the road to sound thinking.  Knee jerk reactions and twitter blow-ups only make matters worse because we don’t engage real conversations with live people on this stage.  Jacobs calls this verbal sparring Refutation Mode (19) and often this course of action does little to no good in moving a debate or conversation along.  The phrase If I had just thought about it I wouldn’t have sent that (19) catapults us into slowing down the who ballgame, finding out who the other team is and learning their strategy before we finally formulate a plan.

Alan gets at quite an amusing and telling story about thinking by engaging the story of Wilt Chamberlain, Hall of Fame NBA basketball star.  He switched from shooting overhead on his free throw shots at one point to granny style in order to improve his percentages but soon went back to overhead even though his percentage were lower. Why?  Jacobs opines, “If you primary goal in life is to have sex with as many people as possible, then you very well might avoid any behavior that could lower your reputation for desirability.” (46)  It was utterly rational and more wise to shoot free throws underhanded but this and Wilt seem more feminine or less manly to the opposite sex, so he continued with overhead style, regardless of the percentage differences.

It is not wrong to think that everyone we meet has specific and certain biases that they live with on an everyday occurrence.  The question is whether or not people have biases but do we have the right ones?  Jacobs writes, “So we need the biases, the emotional predispositions, to relieve the cognitive load.  We just want them to the right ones.” (87)  We might have an uncanny knack for knowing where to be at night in one’s town but also what streets might be the most dangerous.  If a man calls you to sit by him at night in a loud and boisterous voice in the dead of night, experience and bias gives us reason to question his intentions.  But, learning to feel, alongside learning to think is the key to bringing the most truthful biases and emotional responses. 

From biases to group think, to emotion alongside reason, and to open and closed minds, this book is extremely helpful in plodding along the path of sound thinking. One of the beautiful things about the book is Jacobs challenges his readers to stop and clearly outline one’s opponents argument in the most clearest of fashions before promoting your own opinion.  This kind of activity can only lead to better debates and more helpful dialogue, rather than name calling and badgering that we often see on television.

Thanks to Blogging for Books for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.


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