The Life-Changing Science of Detecting Bullshit

By: John V. Petrocelli

Narrated by: Larry Herron

Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

"An excellent introduction to behavioral science with relatable examples is presented by an expert narrator." - AudioFile Magazine on The Life-Changing Science of Detecting Bullshit

Expanding upon his viral TEDx Talk, psychology professor and social scientist John V. Petrocelli's The Life-Changing Science of Detecting Bullshit reveals the critical thinking habits you can develop to recognize and combat pervasive false information and delusional thinking that has become a common feature of everyday life.

"This is the perfect moment for...the psychology of detecting fake news in the world around us—and false beliefs about ourselves too.”
—Adam Grant

Bullshit is the foundation of contaminated thinking and bad decisions that leads to health consequences, financial losses, legal consequences, broken relationships, and wasted time and resources.

No matter how smart we believe ourselves to be, we’re all susceptible to bullshit—and we all engage in it. While we may brush it off as harmless marketing sales speak or as humorous, embellished claims, it’s actually much more dangerous and insidious. It’s how Bernie Madoff successfully swindled billions of dollars from even the most experienced financial experts with his Ponzi scheme. It’s how the protocols of Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward resulted in the deaths of 36 million people from starvation. Presented as truths by authority figures and credentialed experts, bullshit appears legitimate, and we accept their words as gospel. If we don’t question the information we receive from bullshit artists to prove their thoughts and theories, we allow these falsehoods to take root in our memories and beliefs. This faulty data affects our decision making capabilities, sometimes resulting in regrettable life choices.

But with a little dose of skepticism and a commitment to truth seeking, you can build your critical thinking and scientific reasoning skills to evaluate information, separate fact from fiction, and see through bullshitter spin. In The Life-Changing Science of Detecting Bullshit, experimental social psychologist John V. Petrocelli provides invaluable strategies not only to recognize and protect yourself from everyday bullshit, but to accept your own lack of knowledge about subjects and avoid engaging in bullshit just for societal conformity.

With real world examples from people versed in bullshit who work in the used car, real estate, wine, and diamond industries, Petrocelli exposes the red-flag warning signs found in the anecdotal stories, emotional language, and buzzwords used by bullshitters that persuade our decisions. By using his critical thinking defensive tactics against those motivated by profit, we will also learn how to stop the toxic misinformation spread from the social media influencers, fake news, and op-eds that permeate our culture and call out bullshit whenever we see it.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press

"This bracing yet accessible work is the right book at the right time. In a world clouded by nonsense, The Life-Changing Science of Detecting Bullshit is a welcome ray of sunshine.”—Daniel H. Pink, New York Times bestselling author of When, Drive, and To Sell Is Human

“At last, in the form of John Petrocelli’s highly engaging new book, we have straight talk about the doubletalk, flowing sewage-like around us these days. Better still, he walks his talk with scientifically-grounded, actionable information on precisely how to recognize and reject the bilge.” —Robert Cialdini, New York Times bestselling author

©2021 John V. Petrocelli (P)2021 Macmillan Audio

Fun, Entertaining and Scientific…

As much entertaining as scientific. Also fun and gives you a lot to think about.

The BEST summary how to discipline one’s mind…

This is by far the best book that summarizes some of the most credible and well-established science over the past few decades of how to overcome the hacks that are within our thinking…

It’s a Must READ!

fly swatter

All we have to do to find lies and BS these days is to turn on a device. Social media is filled with “influencers” who make their opinions seem far more interesting than the truth. Newscasters offer up stories that have no context, so the truth gets skewed or entirely lost. Politicians flat out lie. Advertisers and marketers encourage us to override our better judgment to spend money on things that we don’t need. And sometimes it’s even family and friends who become true believers and start to spread the bad information themselves.

The BS is everywhere.

But there is an antidote. Professor of experimental social psychology John V. Petrocelli meets the BS with intelligence, perception, and the scientific method. He goes deep into the BS to find out why people say the crazy things they say and to help the rest of us deal with it. He studies BS for a living, so he understands that there is a cost to dealing it, whether it means you’re spending too much on a car, dealing with the effects of investing with someone like Bernie Madoff, or just trying to decide which politician to vote for.

Petrocelli uses psychological concepts to explain how we fall under the influence of BS, like confirmation bias, cognitive dissonance, and our tendency to conform to what we see others doing. But understanding the rhetoric and other tricks that others use to trick us, we have another tool to protect ourselves from getting pulled in. And he has another tool that he uses. When he’s analyzing something that he thinks smells like BS, he has a system for how strong the smell is. His BS Flies Index assigns 1-3 flies to the lies, depending on just how strong the BS is.

Now, the next time you’re faced with a flat Earther you have information to counter that. A cousin who still thinks vaccines cause autism? You’ll have it covered. Your best friend is getting ready to pop the question and has to buy a ring? You can help get the best price. When your coworker makes you watch their favorite TED Talk on intermittent fasting, you can do more than just roll your eyes. You can figure out for yourself if the information is true for yourself.

I listened to The Life-Changing Science of Bullshit on audio, and narrator Larry Herron made this book sound accessible. He’s conversational and natural, and I was especially impressed with his impressions of recent Presidents. He can bring the derision when it’s warranted, and makes clarifying the facts sound doable, even against an ocean of BS.

I thought this book was fascinating. In the current political climate, having skills like these is invaluable. And for dealing with all the information on the internet, this book is really helpful for dealing with all the insanity and misinformation. Even just watching the news brings up so many questions that a book like this is necessary. It would actually be a good book to revisit every few years, to learn all these concepts again and to remember not to let your guard down against all the BS out there in the world.

Egalleys for The Life-Changing Science of Bullshit were provided by St. Martin’s Press through NetGalley, with many thanks, but I bought the audio book myself through Audible.

Bingeworthy book

I have no clue how I didn’t hear about this book or the work of John V. Petrocelli. This book is fantastic, and I binged it within a day of it being launched. There are a lot of books out there about being a better thinker and decision-maker, and I’ve read a ton of them. I can honestly say that this book stands out for a wide range of reasons, and I hope it gets the recognition it deserves. The author is a social psychologist and researcher, and there are a ton of studies in this book that I hadn’t heard of as well as studies that John and his team have done. In this book, you’ll learn what bullshit is, why people do it, and how to spot it. I mainly enjoy these books to remind myself of the tools needed to be skeptical of misinformation, but John covered way more than that. By the time you finish the book, you’ll know how to spot bullshit whether you’re reading or watching the news, buying a used car, or just talking to a friend.

Also, I listened to the audiobook version of this, and the narrator was perfect for the book. I usually don’t pay much attention to narrators of non-fiction, but as an audio listener, I really enjoyed this one.

Awesome read!

Go through this book a few times. Let it really marinate and thoroughly understand the method of thinking and assessing... This read is definately a "game changer."

Excellent principles

I liked the principles and processes of critical thinking espoused in this book. As a PhD whose research interest is personal epistemology, I might challenge some of his conclusions, like the usefulness of the MBTI in spite of its self-report unreliability, or his conclusions regarding intermittent fasting in the face of recent data. But overall I’m thinking he’s inviting us to important principles of complex epistemology that function well in differentiating truth from BS.

Just what the doctor ordered...

This is an excellent book! It's entertaining and even a bit frightening, but best of all he gives actionable steps to help determine whether or not we're dealing with BS. We're standing in piles of BS and more gets piled on each day. Petrocelli provides a strong and sturdy shovel to help us deal with it. Many thanks to the author, and yes, you absolutely should read or listen to this book. I'm still chuckling about how he describes the scientific peer review process, and then mentions that the peer review happens in established medical and scientific journals, not on You Tube! I have already posted links to this book in Facebook posts pushing questionable information, and I will continue to do so.

You have to hear this!

I have listened twice to this audiobook of The Live-Changing Science of Detecting Bullshit and it is a MUST READ/LISTEN to all of us who care about truth, facts, evidence. Big plus, the narrator is fabulous and will make you smile and sometimes laugh.

Might be better as hard copy

Great book full of eye-opening studies. Sometimes hard to keep up with due to the complexity of the data and speed of narration. Definitely backed it up many times to really ingest. Fascinating material.

Grab a pair of hip high waders...

So, fair warning: I could not finish this title. This is a shining example of how to speak in the most condescending manner and lay down all the b*ullsh*t you want. The author spends what little of the book I did listen to explaining the scientific method in the most condescending manner possible, implying that the average person is unqualified to weigh in on (let alone understand) scientific matters and decrying the “lack of critical thinking skills” in society today. He then proceeds to set up straw man arguments that are (supposedly) commonly believed as examples of BS in society. He then goes on to attack political figures he dislikes with examples of “BS” so blatantly biased that you would have had to be a moron to have taken the initial statement by the individuals at the value he suggests in the first place.

The title is clever and I was hoping for an entertaining discussion of critical thinking skills. What I got was a condescending screed by an author so full of himself that he thinks the scientific method can only be explained to the average person by analogies using spaghetti sauce and that his status as a “scientist” gives him license to attack political figures he does not like while loudly proclaiming his own objectivity.

The only bright spot of this mess is the narrator who does have a nice, smooth voice and a lively delivery. Pity his talent is wasted on this patronizing title.