Rationality - fine, but outclassed by its own references

More than half of this book is statistics, and I actually really like statistics. I did several classes of it in high school and through my comp sci degree, so this wasn’t a bad refresher. The trouble is I didn’t really learn anything new.

I picked it up because I’d heard a lot about Steven Pinker and wanted to try one of his books. Given his prestige, I went in expecting something on the level of the books he references throughout, like Atomic Habits, Thinking Fast and Slow, and Sapiens. Reading it, I naturally kept comparing it to those, and honestly it felt dull and slow next to what are, for me, three 10/10 books.

The best part is the first 30%, where he covers the rationality of animals and civilisation. Even there, Sapiens is a more thorough and interesting exploration of how scientific theory developed. Still, I did enjoy that stretch, and Pinker brings some different angles, especially around modern day rationality.

So this lands at 3/5. It’s not bad, it just kept reminding me of better books I’d rather be reading. The reader who’d get real value here is someone who hasn’t done statistics in a long time and is interested in rationality. If that’s you, go for it. If you haven’t read Sapiens or Thinking Fast and Slow yet, start with those instead.