The Guinea Pig Diaries Quotes

“Plus, in one of his e-mails, the guy said he didn't like pancakes. What kind of asshole doesn't like pancakes? ”
― A.J. Jacobs, The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment

“Why should we always try to be true to our natural selves? What if our natural selves are assholes? Stalin was true to himself”
― A.J. Jacobs, The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment

“Probably 90 percent of our life decisions are powered by the twin engines of inertia and laziness.”
― A.J. Jacobs, The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment

“Paintings! They're like TV, but they don't move. ”
― A.J. Jacobs, The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment

“Journalism is an enemy of rationality. What makes news? The unusual and the spectacular, which by their nature distort reality and pervert our decisions. You read headlines like 15 KILLED IN PLANE CRASH IN WYOMING. You don’t read headlines like ANOTHER 2,000 DIED OF HEART DISEASE YESTERDAY. This leads to the Availability Fallacy. Our lazy mind gloms on to the most vivid, emotional examples. When we think of danger, we think of hideous plane crashes or acts of terrorism, even though boring old cars kill eighty-four times more people.”
― A.J. Jacobs, The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment

“First impressions are like South American dictators: overly powerful and unreliable.”
― A.J. Jacobs, The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment

“Patternicity is the idea that humans are really talented at finding nonexistent patterns in random noise.”
― A.J. Jacobs, The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment

“I have to say, passive aggression gets a bad rap these days. It may not be appropriate in all occasions, but it's a lot better than aggressive aggression.”
― A.J. Jacobs, The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment

“The Bible's "it's better to give than receive" was not the raving of a lunatic. It goes back to a recurring theme that I've found in almost all my experiments: behaviour shapes your thoughts. My brain sees me giving a gift to Julie. My brain concludes I must really love her. I love her all the more. Which means I'm happier in my relationship, if a bit poorer.”
― A.J. Jacobs, The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment