Thinking books · Critical thinking · Adam Grant, 2021
Think Again — the big ideas
An argument for rethinking as a skill, and for the pleasure of finding out you were wrong.
Free — no account needed to read
The big ideas
It separates three unhelpful modes — preacher, prosecutor and politician — from the scientist mode, where a belief is a hypothesis to test rather than a possession to defend.
Confident humility: being sure of your ability to work something out while being unsure of your current answer. The two are compatible and usually confused.
Persuasion works better through questions than assertions, because people are more moved by arguments they generate themselves.
Task conflict helps a team and relationship conflict harms it, and most groups avoid the useful one to avoid the harmful one.
Practise it — no need to have read it
Write down something you changed your mind about in the last two years, and exactly what caused it. Then write something you have not changed your mind about in ten.
A hint: The second list is where the interesting work is.
Where it shows up in real life
- Team disagreement
- Long-held opinions
- Persuading someone
Described in our own words with the source named — never quoted, and not a substitute for reading the book.
Thinking methods from this book
- Find the crux — Locating the one belief that, if it flipped, would change both your minds.
The thinking it builds
- Critical Thinking — Evaluate claims and evidence
- Reflective Thinking — Examine your own reasoning
- Argumentation — Build and evaluate arguments