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Non-Fiction Book Reviews

by SquirrelInHell
11th Aug 2016
1 min read
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15

This is a linkpost for http://squirrelinhell.blogspot.com/2016/08/non-fiction-book-reviews.html
Book Reviews / Media Reviews
Personal Blog

15

Non-Fiction Book Reviews
1MaryCh
0SquirrelInHell
0Bobertron
0Viliam
0Bobertron
0Kyre
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[-]MaryCh9y10

The linked page doesn't exist?

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[-]SquirrelInHell9y00

Thanks, fixed

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[-]Bobertron9y00

I haven't read "Good and Real" or "Thinking, Fast and Slow" yet, because I think that I won't learn something new as a long term Less Wrong reader. In the case of "Good and Real" part seems to be about physics and I don't think I have the physics background to profit from hat (I feel a refresher on high school physics would be more appropirate for me). In the case of "Thinking, Fast and Slow" I have already read books by Keith Stanovich (What Intelligence Tests Miss and The Robot's Rebellion) and some chapters of academic books edited by Kahneman.

Does anyone think those two books are still worth my time?

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[-]Viliam9y00

It also depends on how fast you read. And whether you only want information for yourself, or possibly to educate other people (because telling other people to read something in Kahneman will seem high-status, while telling them to read the Sequences may feel cultish to them).

By the way, have you read Stanovich before or after LW? Was that worth your time?

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[-]Bobertron9y00

I've read it those two books after LW. Assuming you have read the sequences: It wasn't a total waste, but from my memory I would recommend What Intelligence Tests Miss only if you have an interest specifically in psychology, IQ or the heuristics and biases field. I would not recommend it simply because you have a casual interest in rationality and philosophy ("LW-type stuff") or if you've read other books about heuristics and biases. The Robot's Rebellion is a little more speculative and therefore more interesting, Robot's Rebellion and What Intelligence Test Miss also have a significant overlap in covered material.

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[-]Kyre9y00

Will second "Good and Real" as worth reading (haven't read any of the others).

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I have moved this post to my blog: http://squirrelinhell.blogspot.com/2016/08/non-fiction-book-reviews.html