A Field Guide to Lies

June 27, 2016
Levitin (The Organized Mind) equips readers with tools to combat misinformation—bad data, false facts, distortions, and their ilk—in this useful primer on the importance of critical thinking in daily life. Levitin divides information (and misinformation) into two categories: numerical and verbal. He begins with an examination of both deliberate and uninformed misuses of statistics and how to spot them. The concepts explored in this section are perennial favorites of critical-thinking instruction, including plausibility, “Axis Shenanigans,” and the different types of probabilities. The second section, on evaluation words, explores less trodden grounds; particularly the discussion about expertise, which explores the concept in the context of individuals and institutions, and the ways that this expertise can be misapplied or misinterpreted. In his final third of the book is dedicated to the scientific method and how it actually works, as opposed to pseudoscientific imitations. In all three sections Levitin explores material that has often been written about elsewhere, but the book still serves its purpose as a valuable primer on critical thinking that convincingly illustrates the prevalence of misinformation in everyday life.

June 15, 2016
A crash course in Skepticism 101."Much of what we read should raise our suspicions," warns Levitin (Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience/McGill Univ.; The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload, 2014, etc.). Indeed, lies abound, and "bad statistics are everywhere." Averages can be manipulated. Graphs can distort. Misinformation proliferates in books, websites, videos, and social media. What to do? Levitin says we must engage in critical thinking, and he spells out in this lucid text exactly what that means when encountering words and numbers and trying to decide what's true and what's not. Using vivid examples from major media, the author shows how easily--whether accidentally or deliberately--data can lead us astray. For one thing, statistics are gathered by fallible people. Have terms been properly defined? Has a representative sample been taken? Have credible experts been cited? Are the sources reputable (peer-reviewed articles, books from major publishers)? Be suspicious of all information. "You shouldn't trust everything you read in the New York Times," he writes, "or reject everything you read on TMZ." The Times, after all, runs daily corrections. With common sense as a first line of defense (if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is), readers must be mindful of the scientific method, a major focus of the book. Where's the evidence? Where's the control group? What are the possible alternative explanations? Levitin takes pains to emphasize that once misinformation takes hold, many people can believe things that aren't so. He details four pitfalls in critical thinking that have led many to blame vaccinations for the rise in autism rates. He also cautions against routinely accepting the information on websites, which can be biased or badly outdated. Often, he says, we become our own enemies. We blindly accept numbers that intimidate or insist on neat stories when not everything is explainable. Valuable tools for anyone willing to evaluate claims and get to the truth of the matter.

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November 1, 2016

Typically when someone sees or hears statistics, it lends the illusion of credibility to a news story, study, or call for action. Owing in part to our favoring of concrete numbers as being more "factual," few take a closer look at those numbers and claims and assess the plausibility and reality of the scenario. Levitin (psychology, McGill Univ.; This Is Your Brain on Music) hopes to inspire readers to do just that, because where those numbers come from and the people behind them can make all the difference. For example, what does it really mean when four out of five dentists choose certain toothpastes? Divided into three larger sections, Levitin's book addresses different formats of information we may encounter from charts and graphs to percentages and scientific studies. Subsections explain how fallacies are created and equip readers with methods for analyzing each facet of a claim. Levitin proceeds in a logical and well-ordered manner, building from more simplistic means of finding errors to more complex riddles within statistical data. VERDICT This useful, entertaining, and highly readable guide is ready to arm everyday citizens with the tools to combat the spread of spurious, and often ridiculous, information. [See Prepub Alert, 3/28/16; audiobook review, p. 47.]--Kaitlin Malixi, Bucks Cty. Free Lib., Doylestown, PA

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2016

James McGill Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience at McGill University and a New York Times best-selling author (This Is Your Brain on Music), Levitin here helps us sort out what's reliable and what's not on the Internet.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.