Thinking: A Memoir

by Richard E. Nisbett

A memoir is both an intellectual autobiography and a personal history. It describes how people reason and make inferences about the world, how people should reason and make those inferences, why errors in reasoning occur, how much you can improve reasoning, what kinds of problems are best solved by the conscious mind and what kinds by the unconscious mind, and how we should think about intelligence in light of answers to such questions. The book starts with the author's early experiences, many of which directly influenced his subsequent research.

Genres: Philosophy

221 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 3, 2021

About the author

Richard E. Nisbett is one of the world's most respected psychologists. His work focuses on issues in social psychology and cognitive science. He has received the Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions from the American Psychological Association and many other national and international awards. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and is a recipient of the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship. His book The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently . . . and Why won the William James Award of the American Psychological Association. That book, as well as Intelligence and How to Get It: Why Schools and Cultures Count and Mindware: Tools for Smart Thinking have been translated into multiple languages. His newest book is Thinking: A Memoir.

Reviews

[Raz Pirata · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Doesn’t everyone think? Yes, but not that many people think a lot about thinking. Or so I think.”

As humans, we delight in our intelligence. Our ability to create and construct. To imagine and innovate. Our minds, our ability to think, we believe, are what has led us beyond our feeble bodies to the top of the food chain. It is thinking that makes us who we are.

But how much time do we devote to understand how we think? Why we think? What makes up our thinking systems and constructs and what implications does that have on our past, our present, and our future.


“Ecologies dictate economies which dictate characteristic social relations which dictate ways of perceiving and thinking.”

Luckily for us, we can subcontract much of this work out Richard E. Nisbett, a giant of social psychology, whose distinguished career has included the seminal books The Geography of Thought, Mindware: Tools for Smart Thinking, Intelligence and How to Get It and his latest effort, Thinking - A Memoir.

This book, however, is so much more than a memoir. It is a metacognitive adventure into how an influential thinker thinks about thinking. It is another lesson, this time by example, in what good thinking, excellent research, and solid science look like in practice over the course of a lifetime dedicated to understanding why we think like we do and how we can think better.

“Psychologists are a liberal bunch, and they wanted to be able to believe what... our science was telling them they had to believe.”

In what the author describes as ‘unlike any intellectual autobiography you are likely to encounter’, Thinking offers the reader insights into how we reason, understand and misunderstand our world. It shines a light on the paradigm shifting research being done regarding the science of thought as we bear witness to a life full of asking brilliant questions and finding surprising answers about our greatest mystery - our mind.

Anyone who wants to think better must read Richard E. Nisbett, and anyone who wants to discover how a great thinker thinks should read his memoir Thinking.

[Booksonthegram · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Thinking: A memoir’ by Professor Nesbitt is an engaging & thought provocative book which takes the reader on a journey starting from his humble upbringing to him becoming a prominent psychologist. What’s unique about this memoir is how the author links his life experiences to his greater scientific work. The memoir provides the reader with a detailed insights on the several breakthroughs the author achieved in collaboration with fellow scientists. Making the book an interesting read, especially for those seeking to learn more about scientific discovery and social psychology!

[Mariskova · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading “thinking”, the memoir of the distinguished social psychologist, Richard E. Nisbett, feels like watching the biopic of the man whom Malcolm Gladwell says the most influential thinker in his life.

It is interesting to follow Nisbett's story starting when he was a child having a great time adventuring in El Paso to a young scientist making his way in the world. Readers get to see how each phase of his life has shaped him and has contributed to many of his accomplishments in the field of psychology.

Throughout the book, readers are presented with the story of how engaging people from a wide range of fields can be significant for someone's work. Especially if these people are prominent scientists in the world, of course. It's so exciting to read Nisbett's description on how various researches were conducted and how his collaboration with excellent scientists was developed. It makes me feel like witnessing some of the most important breakthroughs in the history of psychology field.

[Arash Farzaneh · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Thinking: A Memoir" by renowned social and cognitive psychologist Richard E. Nisbett is a great and fascinating read! Although I was already familiar with some of the experiments and research, it was wonderful to see them all presented in this book with interesting backgrounds and tidbits of information added to them. That being said, you do not have to be an academic or psychologist to enjoy reading it.

The book starts off as a traditional memoir, and I really liked the insights into Nisbett’s personal life but then the rest of the book tends to be about his research and academic life and provides very little insight into his personal life. And yet, his wanderlust and the shenanigans of his childhood turn into curiosity and set him up quite well for the exploration of territories of the mind and of people’s behaviors.

In fact, the ground-breaking research and findings are interesting and thought-provoking. What I found most interesting was the finding that Southerners tend to have higher homicide rates because of their culture of honor but, more importantly, that these tendencies embodied in thought and behavior lead back and are related to evolutionary reasons and necessities. And then, there is a whole bit on how our thinking is flawed and what we can do about it, which rounds up with food for thought regarding IQ tests, education, race, and intelligence.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys the act of thinking and is curious about things, who is interested in the history of thought, or who just wants to know more about important, relevant, and essential findings in the fields of social, cognitive, and cultural psychology!

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the way Richard E. Nisbett’s mind works! His passion for understanding and sharing how and why we think the way we do, and how we can become better thinkers, is such a relevant and important topic for our times. In his memoir ‘Thinking,’ Nisbett takes us on a fun and personal journey into how the mind of a greater thinker works, and shares his many lessons and insights learned along the way. The way he combines personal stories with deeper thinking strategies makes this an engaging and relatable read. If you are in any way interested in metacognition and how to become a better thinker (especially if you enjoy a great memoir), this book is for you!

[Aika Hui · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thinking by Richard Nisbett was an interesting read about his journey into becoming a psychologist. Would recommend it to those in training or aspiring to be in this career.

[Manuel Esteban]

Nisbett writes in a crisp, lucid, and often humorous style. His sentences are generally short and to the point, without any extraneous wording. The reader may be tempted to move along as rapidly as his style permits. This would be a serious error as his two-hundred page book packs loads of important and valuable information that travels well beyond the borders of the field of psychology.
In a profession where we often find egocentric, jealous, and selfish individuals, Professor Nisbett showers praise on his many collaborators, both colleagues and graduate students. In fact, he makes the point in the first page of his book that "I couldn't have learned as much as I have about the human mind without collaborating with such a wide range of people. Collaboration made it possible to develop a view of intelligence very different from that of the scientists who specialize in that field."
Many excellent researchers, regardless of their chosen academic field, devote a lifetime to digging deeper and deeper into a specific subfield. This is not the case for Professor Nisbett. He digs deep, but as he progressed his interests expanded and he has become an authority in a substantial number of what, at times, may appear to be disparate fields of inquiry. Though a social psychologist, his concept of social psychology has few barriers. His book is not just a personal memoir. It is a compilation of the existing research in this field and of his own investigations. Two thirds of the book deal exclusively with his own research over the years. It is not easy reading if you are not well versed in psychology. But it is very rewarding if read with care. Remarkable, the reader is likely to come to new opinions about such different notions as reasoning, the role of personality in behavior, the influence of genetic versus societal forces on behavior, the concept of intelligence and IQ, and even regional and national difference in behavior after having finished this memoir.
I have recommended Professor Nisbett's Memoir to my two granddaughters, one of whom is a social worker and the other a college student contemplating which area of psychology is best suited for her. In my opinion, this is a must read book for them. I have also recommended it to many of my professional colleagues most of whom are not psychologists. There are so many valuable and revealing aspects of this book that elucidate how we reason that every reader will "think" better about how we think.
Manuel A. Esteban
Emeritus Professor of French and Spanish Literatures
Emeritus President
California State University, Chico

[Marlene Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this a very readable book, in spite of my lack of experience with scientific research and having definitely not done as much THINKING. I enjoyed reading about his experiences at Ivy League schools and his love for the University of Michigan, where he spent most of his career. But my favorite part was the description of his colleagues, whom he obviously respected greatly. Richard Nisbett is the kind of professor we all wish we had had.

[Kathleen Garber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thinking is part memoir and part psychology book. This is because the author is a social psychologist. So psychology is his life. He goes back and forth between personal stories and explaining studies or research he conducted. So you get to learn a little about social psychology and find out about his life.

I found the book interesting although I did get lost a few times. Most of the times though it’s wasn’t overly complicated which I appreciate. The author moves around a lot in his life time. As such the chapters are labelled by the places he lived: El Paso, New York, Ann Arbor and more.

I especially found the research on obesity interesting since I struggle with my weight. His research suggests that once you are obese, your body tries to keep up it’s current weight. Your brain/body makes you more likely to eat yummy food even if you aren’t hungry. Which makes it harder to lose weight.

If you are interested in psychology, you will definitely enjoy this memoir.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

[Koletta Jurskyte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting read about reasoning and thinking by support of research. However, I found it hard to read and took me a while to finish

[J Earl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thinking: A memoir by Richard E Nisbett is a delightful blend of memoir and psychology, particularly as it relates to our cognitive processes.

While I have found his other books, well, the ones I read, quite accessible I think this volume takes some of the best parts of those and creates a wonderful new entity. I don't mean that it repeats what came before but that rather than scatter real life examples throughout a book of psychology we have psychology scattered throughout a personal narrative to both understand the writer and to understand the scientific principles. I know that many of the best lectures I've attended, whether on social psychology or physics, are most impactful when we are given some real-life examples of the principles discussed. So this book is like taking all of those examples and making an immensely interesting book.

This is far short of a textbook though it would make a great springboard for those who want to read more about certain topics. This is, first and foremost, a memoir and it succeeds as such. He has led a fascinating life and reading about it through a theoretical lens takes it from one man's story to something we can all, I hope, relate to. Which is why we did some of the things we did.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

[yamiyoghurt · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author is an academic, and his memoir is an account of the people he worked with, the studies he published, the studies he found interesting, and insider stories about his colleagues and peers.

I enjoy memoirs that detail challenges, struggles, and the triumph of perseverance and stoicism - these are the stuff that inspire strength and hope. This book, however, is more educational than inspiring. The obsession with intelligence amuse me.

I’m glad I read till the end though, because the last bit about the differences in worldview between Easterners and Westerners interesting was a gem!

[Anders · Rating 4 out of 5]

Normally i would not read memoirs, but thought i would make an exception for this instance. The book contains interesting stories from the long career of the well known author as a scientist at different institutions, the major discoveries, and other scientists encountered. The idea that people are rational, behave rationally and can reason about their decision making is disputed in the book, and i'm starting myself to agree... One thing that i found missing from the book was however a list of further reading and references. Over all well worth reading.

[Kim Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! This is definitely a book I'd like to read more than once. Although it is a memoir, there is a lot of interesting social psychology science in it that really makes you think about how what is presented is related to how the reader lives.

The writing is fairly easy to understand for someone interested in science but not necessarily engaged in it. And at times dry and witty.

[Mattias]

I am enjoying reading this book. Very interesting recollection of personal formative events.

[Eduardo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book. Super interesting combination of bio + psychology.