You Are Not So Smart - PRO-CRAS-TI-NATION

One of my favorite blogs out there is You Are Not So Smart. Based on scientific developments in fields like cognitive psychology and behavioral economics, it's a fun and accessible exploration of the many ways in which our minds predictably fail us because of the many cognitive biases to which we are naturally prone and the logical fallacies we commit without even realizing it.

If you consistently manage to make the same wrong choice, for instance, the problem might have more to do with the fact that you don't understand the problem and/or yourself (and how your animal mind works) well enough to figure out what approach to take than with things like will power, self-control or even luck. One of the ways out of these mental traps is to engage in some metacognition: thinking about the process of thinking itself, but you need some background knowledge, and that's exactly what you can find in the blog, or soon, in its upcoming book.

Anyway, here's a taste of the awesomeness, explaining why we procrastinate, and how we might be able to go about avoiding this fun but ultimately self-defeating habit.

I won't be mad if anyone wants to get me a copy of the book when it comes out :)

Jonah Lehrer's "How We Decide" (previously featured here) is also a great read.