

Ask HN: Any recommendations for books about rationality / scientific thinking? - rationalthrowa

My father is 60 and brainwashed himself over years into esoteric thinking. He thinks that his &quot;way of thinking&quot; is superior to everyone else. He is convinced that he discovered <i>the truth</i> about reality. It&#x27;s all kind of bullshit he talks about, which I&#x27;d sum up as &quot;cognitive biases&quot; he fails to see (see https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;List_of_cognitive_biases), while blaming everyone else to be incapable of understand his world view.<p>Tthe older he gets, the less flexible he becomes in his thinking, and the more arrogant he becomes. He has a deeply flawed understanding of what science is and how it works and – like many esoterics – he&#x27;d abuse some scientific concepts to explain his world view, but reject other concepts if they don&#x27;t fit the world view. E. g. Quantum Theory as a wishy-washy explanation for &quot;supernatural phenomenons&quot;, if you know what I mean.<p>I know, it&#x27;s impossible to change someone, if he isn&#x27;t willing to do change himself. But maybe a good book could show him some flaws in his thinking and act as a trigger to at least reconsider some of his world views.<p>Does anyone have recommendations for books that teach basic rational thinking and core scientific concepts? Or any other tips for a situation like that when you find a family member detached from reality?
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jcr
Eliezer Yudkowsky wrote a series of "sequences" with the goal of creating a
book on rationality.

[http://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Sequences](http://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Sequences)

If your dad thrives on "smarter than you" arrogance, then a more subtle and
crafty introduction might be, "Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality,"
also by Eliezer Yudkowsky.

[http://hpmor.com/](http://hpmor.com/)

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rationalthrowa
Thank you, will check out both. Not sure if he like the Harry Potter universe
though.

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arethuza
Carl Sagan's "The Demon-Haunted World":

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Demon-
Haunted_World](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Demon-Haunted_World)

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rationalthrowa
Many many thanks, from the description, it sounds exactly like the book I was
looking for.

