Don’t believe everything you think

Yesterday, as I was on my way to ski and crossing the Deer Valley parking lot, my glance caught another noticeable bumper sticker that proclaimed: “Don’t Believe Everything You Think”.

I thought it was cute, made plenty of sense, and since I didn't want to believe everything I thought at that particular moment, I decided to do some research to find out more about it.

I discovered that, besides being a clever sticker, it was also the title of a book by Thomas Kida. In it, the author discusses how to spot our own faulty thinking and develop strategies for not falling into their traps.

Among others points, Kida claims that we generally prefer stories to statistics and that we like to to confirm, not question, our own ideas. He also points out that don't want to recognize the role of luck in our lives.

In summary, the idea is that we tend to misunderstand the world around us, oversimplify our thinking and, too often, forget that our memories are not too reliable.