This book focuses on a condition called “inattentional blindness,” a term coined by the authors to describe how our brains can ignore seemingly obvious items, factors and events while concentrating on others. It is not only an easy read but an eye-opener on firmly held beliefs like confident people are also competent, that we have lots of unused brainpower and that we pay more attention than we actually do. It provides simple and easy explanations for things that people rely on to make decisions but that may be far less reliable than some of the less obvious. The theme of the book is that while intuition is certainly valuable we need to be skeptical when it contradicts good evidence.
Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons, The Invisible Gorilla: How Our Intuitions Deceive Us, Crown Publishing Group, 2010, (242 pages)
Recommended by Sid Heal in Episodes 1 & 2