Amazing book!

Where does This Will Make You Smarter rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This has to be pretty close to, if not at the top.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I found the section on collective intelligence to be the most interesting.

Any additional comments?

The title really does deliver, but beware, there is a lot of hugely differing ideas in this book that moves very quickly. Take your time reading and processing this, and maybe give it 2 reads. Well worth it.

14 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

A sampler of spicy ideas to liven up the mind

I'm finding this series habit-forming. I like the quickness of each little vignette: it introduces an idea or new phrasing or view of things that may be novel to me (great!) or not (fine, it's not too long). From time to time one hears a very gifted explainer: it introduces me to authors whose full-length books I also read.

8 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

This will not make you smarter.

Would you try another book from John Brockman and/or John Allen Nelson and Khristine Hvam ?

Maybe

What could John Brockman have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

The whole idea of "what will improve your cognitive toolbox" sounds like a good one but the pieces themselves are disjointed and wander around from topic to topic with no apparent connection. After a while it degrades into just another "this is what the future will bring" piece of fluff.

What about John Allen Nelson and Khristine Hvam ’s performance did you like?

The reading was fine and the use of more than one reader is good.

What character would you cut from This Will Make You Smarter?

Most of them.

6 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Science is incapable of answering everything

Would you try another book from John Brockman and/or John Allen Nelson and Khristine Hvam ?

unlikely

What could John Brockman have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

be more broad and not be stuck with the idea that science is know-all

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

The sadness that steams from the idea that a limited man-made science with limited vocabulary is capable of answering the limitless.
the intellectual arrogance of the scientists quoted in the book was so narrow minded and out of touch with reality that makes the book monotonically unreadable.
The ideas discussed are only related to small and insignificant species (humans) whom trying desperately make sense of things so to compartmentalize them and to make sense of the only in that fashion.

4 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Science is incapable of answering everything

Would you try another book from John Brockman and/or John Allen Nelson and Khristine Hvam ?

unlikely

What could John Brockman have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

be more broad and not be stuck with the idea that science is know-all

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

The sadness that steams from the idea that a limited man-made science with limited vocabulary is capable of answering the limitless.
the intellectual arrogance of the scientists quoted in the book was so narrow minded and out of touch with reality that makes the book monotonically unreadable.
The ideas discussed are only related to small and insignificant species (humans) whom trying desperately make sense of things so to compartmentalize them and to make sense of the only in that fashion.

3 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

critical thinking and cognitive toolkits

Some of these essays seem profound to me while others seemed banal. My guess is that you would think so too, but that we would not agree on which was which. With over 150 essays, there is something in here for everyone.

2 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Not What I expected

Any additional comments?

I would not recommend this book. I thought it had an interesting idea, but after listening to the content it was a bit bland. It wasn't anything new that I could use as within an educational standpoint.

2 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

it really will!

lot's of information on a wide variety of subjects. This book is an accumulated with best of chapters and essays done by a lot of Scientists.
Absolutely recommend it.

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

Excellent.

This book Opened many doors to other excellent books which is helping me understand the world from a geological, biological, physical perspectives.

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

Epiphanies

A source that I have been seeking. Tantalizing, intriguing, fun. Well narrated and packed full of good information. I enjoyed it so much, I am now going to buy his other audiobooks and get the hard copy of this one. Happy Listening!