Textbook Rationality

A primer on rational thinking... and a plan for teaching it in schools

We all want to be the rational parent, the rational consumer, and the rational voter. So why is it that so few of us can readily define what it means to think rationally?

In this timely and inspiring book, Ivan Phillips argues that irrationality is rampant because we have never taught the key principles of rational thinking in schools. In concise and accessible writing, Textbook Rationality explains:

• How to distinguish rational thinking the from irrational and non-rational thinking
• Why rationality and critical thinking are not the same thing
• How to use Bayesian reasoning to decide what is true
• How to anticipate cognitive bias and employ countermeasures
• How to squeeze a course on rationality into a high school curriculum