Everyday Irrationality

When I saw the title of this book I was fascinated. Would it really tell me ‘how pseudo-scientists, lunatics, and the rest of us systematically fail to think rationally’, as the subtitle promises? Would it help me to improve my own rationality? As I read the book, I became less and less sure that I might arrive at positive answers to these questions. Dawes, a US psychologist, does make a rigorous attempt to show how various types of irrational thought patterns end up in contradiction. Yet much of the originality in this book is drowned in jargon. Often the author is too demanding or long-winded and ends up tiring rather than amusing the reader. Frequently I found myself wondering where the logical thread might be that should run through this text. My view, therefore, is that the book undoubtedly has its merits. Unfortunately irrational people will not be able to follow the often somewhat complicated (or complicatedly put) arguments, and the few rational ones are likely to find it a bit on the boring side.