The Invisible Gorilla

And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us

By: Christopher Chabris, Daniel Simons

Narrated by: Dan Woren

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Our minds don’t work the way we think they do. Two renowned psychologists explain how and why our intuitions lead us astray, “[spinning] the plain world [we] know into a wonderment of surprising new insights” (Time).
 
“A must-read for anyone who wants to better understand how the mind works.”—Associated Press 
 
In The Invisible Gorilla, Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons, creators of one of psychology’s most famous experiments, use remarkable stories and counterintuitive scientific findings to demonstrate an important truth: We think we see ourselves and the world as they really are, but we’re actually missing a whole lot.
 
Chabris and Simons combine the work of other researchers with their own findings on attention, perception, memory, and reasoning to reveal how faulty intuitions can lead us to make shocking, costly—even life-threatening—mistakes. In the process, they explain:
 
• Why a company would spend billions to launch a product that its own analysts know will fail
• Why award-winning movies are full of editing mistakes
• What criminals have in common with chess masters
• Why measles and other childhood diseases are making a comeback
• Why money managers could learn a lot from weather forecasters

The Invisible Gorilla reveals the myriad ways that our intuitions can deceive us, but it’s much more than a catalog of human failings. Chabris and Simons explain why we succumb to these everyday illusions and what we can do to inoculate ourselves against their effects. Ultimately, the book provides a kind of x-ray vision into our own minds, making it possible to pierce the veil of illusions that clouds our thoughts and to think clearly for perhaps the first time.

Great Overview over Hygiene of Perception

The authors of this book are master teachers. The clarity of their presentation is excellent. Like school, though, this comes at times at the cost of being a little bit longish. This is especially so, since, if you are interested in this subject at all or merely in touch with popular knowledge, you will know most of the 'surprising' studies already. I did find, though, that in many cases, they would offer that extra bit of interesting information, debunk or logic to a finding that made it more complete. (In written form this would be even more useful, as one would be able to look these things up later on.)
The book is scientifically rigorous and doesn't fear naming 'transgressions' against good thinking by Malcolm Gladwell and others. Still, the authors manage to not come across as entirely negative geeks and offer some useful conclusions. Nonetheless, this work is not inspirational in any classic sense of the word.
Consider it an overview or a high quality review of perceptive follies and you will be very satisfied. The quality of the reading is excellent.
Originality: 7
Clarity: 10
Reading: 9.9
Usefulness: 8.5

Enjoyed

I enjoyed this book. The narration is perfect, and the content is very interesting. I feel like it gave me a different perspective on many of the ways that dumb/simple people act while following whatever stupid trend is out there. It has also made me reflect on some of my own feelings towards patterns throughout my life. It turned me onto the 'Fooled by Randomness' book also.

insightfull and and a damn interesting read

enjoyed it more then once and will reference it in the future i liked this book

Interesting Info but...

The first have of this book was pretty interesteding but the second half became pretty boring. The author seemed to be fixated on certain ideas which was strange because it was like he was critizing others for doing the same thing he was doing....he thinks his info is all fact. This book was well narrated but was somewhat of a dissapointment. Some of it was helpful as well. If it didnt' become so boring I would have rated it higher.

epiphany after epiphany

the book was amazing it really opened my eyes to a lot of generalizations are conclusive that I draw that were incorrect and causing problems not only in my personal life but also in my business. Shared the book with few friends and they all loved it. Great job worth the read or listen