Nonsense
The Power of Not Knowing
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Narrated by:
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Jamie Holmes
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By:
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Jamie Holmes
About this listen
An illuminating look at the surprising upside of ambiguity—and how, properly harnessed, it can inspire learning, creativity, even empathy
Life today feels more overwhelming and chaotic than ever. Whether it’s a confounding work problem or a faltering relationship or an unclear medical diagnosis, we face constant uncertainty. And we’re continually bombarded with information, much of it contradictory.
Managing ambiguity—in our jobs, our relationships, and daily lives—is quickly becoming an essential skill. Yet most of us don’t know where to begin.
As Jamie Holmes shows in Nonsense, being confused is unpleasant, so we tend to shutter our minds as we grasp for meaning and stability, especially in stressful circumstances. We’re hard-wired to resolve contradictions quickly and extinguish anomalies. This can be useful, of course. When a tiger is chasing you, you can’t be indecisive. But as Nonsense reveals, our need for closure has its own dangers. It makes us stick to our first answer, which is not always the best, and it makes us search for meaning in the wrong places. When we latch onto fast and easy truths, we lose a vital opportunity to learn something new, solve a hard problem, or see the world from another perspective.
In other words, confusion—that uncomfortable mental place—has a hidden upside. We just need to know how to use it. This lively and original book points the way. Over the last few years, new insights from social psychology and cognitive science have deepened our understanding of the role of ambiguity in our lives and Holmes brings this research together for the first time, showing how we can use uncertainty to our advantage. Filled with illuminating stories—from spy games and doomsday cults to Absolut Vodka’s ad campaign and the creation of Mad Libs—Nonsense promises to transform the way we conduct business, educate our children, and make decisions.
In an increasingly unpredictable, complex world, it turns out that what matters most isn’t IQ, willpower, or confidence in what we know. It’s how we deal with what we don’t understand.
©2015 Jamie Holmes (P)2015 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"Holmes... debuts with a provocative analysis of the roots of uncertainty... The author's bright anecdotes and wide-ranging research stories are certain to please many readers."—Kirkus Reviews
"This isn't really about 'nonsense,' as in silliness, but about ambiguity—when it's helpful, when it's not; and how people react to it for good or ill... The many fans of the work of Malcolm Gladwell... will enjoy this readable and thought-provoking work."—Library Journal (starred)
"By clearly staking out his thesis and exploring the topic with a dash of mischief, Holmes convincingly demonstrates that stressful situations can cause us to cling more steadfastly to our beliefs and discard unwelcome information, but he also offers a primer on how to combat these natural tendencies. While life is full of nonsense, managing our response to uncertainty makes all the sense in the world."—Booklist
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The Plateau Effect is a powerful law of nature that affects everyone. Learn to identify plateaus and break through any stagnancy in your life - from diet and exercise, to work, to relationships. The Plateau Effect shows how athletes, scientists, therapists, companies, and musicians around the world are learning to break through their plateau - to turn off the forces that cause people to “get used to” things - and turn on human potential and happiness in ways that seemed impossible.
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Heath
- By Oliver Nielsen on 07-22-13
By: Bob Sullivan, and others
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Originals
- How Non-Conformists Move the World
- By: Adam Grant, Sheryl Sandberg - foreword
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders, Susan Denaker
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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With Give and Take, Adam Grant not only introduced a landmark new paradigm for success but also established himself as one of his generation’s most compelling and provocative thought leaders. In Originals he again addresses the challenge of improving the world, but now from the perspective of becoming original: choosing to champion novel ideas and values that go against the grain, battle conformity, and buck outdated traditions. How can we originate new ideas, policies, and practices without risking it all?
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Interesting, but not science
- By Lloyd Fassett on 03-14-16
By: Adam Grant, and others
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Willful Blindness
- Why We Ignore the Obvious at Our Peril
- By: Margaret Heffernan
- Narrated by: Margaret Heffernan
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Margaret Heffernan argues that the biggest threats and dangers we face are the ones we don't see - not because they're secret or invisible, but because we're willfully blind. A distinguished businesswoman and writer, she examines the phenomenon and traces its imprint in our private and working lives, and within governments and organizations, and asks: What makes us prefer ignorance? What are we so afraid of? Why do some people see more than others? And how can we change?
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How Not to Be the Blind Leading the Blind
- By Cynthia on 06-29-13
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You Are Now Less Dumb
- How to Conquer Mob Mentality, How to Buy Happiness, and All the Other Ways to Outsmart Yourself
- By: David McRaney
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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You Are Now Less Dumb is grounded in the idea that we all believe ourselves to be objective observers of reality - except we’re not. But that's okay, because our delusions keep us sane. Expanding on this premise, McRaney provides eye-opening analyses of 15 more ways we fool ourselves every day. This smart and highly entertaining audiobook will be wowing listeners for years to come.
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Not a lot of guidance
- By A. Yoshida on 02-08-14
By: David McRaney
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The Formula
- How Algorithms Solve all our Problems…and Create More
- By: Luke Dormehl
- Narrated by: Daniel Weyman
- Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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A fascinating guided tour of the complex, fast-moving, and influential world of algorithms - what they are, why they’re such powerful predictors of human behavior, and where they’re headed next. Algorithms exert an extraordinary level of influence on our everyday lives - from dating websites and financial trading floors, through to online retailing and internet searches - Google's search algorithm is now a more closely guarded commercial secret than the recipe for Coca-Cola.
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Not about algorithms. Not an original book.
- By Landon Rordam on 12-02-14
By: Luke Dormehl
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Little Bets
- How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries
- By: Peter Sims
- Narrated by: John Allen Nelson
- Length: 5 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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What do Apple CEO Steve Jobs, comedian Chris Rock, prize-winning architect Frank Gehry, the story developers at Pixar films, and the Army Chief of Strategic Plans all have in common? Best-selling author Peter Sims found that all of them have achieved breakthrough results by methodically taking small, experimental steps in order to discover and develop new ideas.
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Useful approach, not for everyone
- By Tad Davis on 08-15-11
By: Peter Sims
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Mindwise
- Why We Misunderstand What Others Think, Believe, Feel, and Want
- By: Nicholas Epley
- Narrated by: Nicholas Epley
- Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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You are a mind reader, born with an extraordinary ability to understand what others think, feel, believe, want, and know. It's a sixth sense you use every day, in every personal and professional relationship you have. At its best, this ability allows you to achieve the most important goal in almost any life: connecting, deeply and intimately and honestly, to other human beings. At its worst, it is a source of misunderstanding and unnecessary conflict, leading to damaged relationships and broken dreams. How good are you at knowing the minds of others?
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Finally gave up - no real point
- By Thomas on 05-12-14
By: Nicholas Epley
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Before You Know It
- The Unconscious Reasons We Do What We Do
- By: John Bargh PhD
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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For more than three decades, Dr. John Bargh has been responsible for the revolutionary research into the unconscious mind, research that informed best sellers like Blink and Thinking Fast and Slow. Now, in what Dr. John Gottman said "will be the most important and exciting book in psychology that has been written in the past 20 years", Dr. Bargh takes us on an entertaining and enlightening tour of the forces that affect everyday behavior while transforming our understanding of ourselves in profound ways.
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Political jab
- By Brad on 10-20-17
By: John Bargh PhD
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The Click Moment
- Seizing Opportunity in an Unpredictable World
- By: Frans Johansson
- Narrated by: Erik Synnestvedt
- Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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On the one hand we aren’t surprised by the uncertainty of everyday life, but on the other we believe that success can be analyzed and planned for. It is a revealing paradox. The implications are explosive and they obliterate every common-sense notion we have about strategy and planning. The Click Moment is about two very simple but highly provocative ideas.
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Outstanding book!
- By Anilyn Karel on 08-26-24
By: Frans Johansson
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I'm Afraid Debbie From Marketing Has Left for the Day
- How to Use Behavioural Design to Create Change in the Real World
- By: Morten Münster
- Narrated by: David Bateson
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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With more than 50,000 copies sold in Denmark, this book has been on the bestseller list since its publication in 2017. Barack Obama used a secret competitive advantage to win two elections. Companies such as Google, Amazon and Novo Nordisk use the same insight to stir up innovation, increase compliance, improve the work environment and sell more products. And successful management groups in the C20 index have started using it as their preferred strategy. But what kind of insight are we talking about here? The answer is - behavioural design.
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Great, practical summary of behaviour design
- By Elena on 06-01-21
By: Morten Münster
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Friend and Foe
- When to Cooperate, When to Compete, and How to Succeed at Both
- By: Adam D. Galinsky, Maurice E. Schweitzer
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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In Friend and Foe, researchers Galinsky and Schweitzer explain why this debate misses the mark. Rather than being hardwired to compete or cooperate, humans have evolved to do both. It is only by learning how to strike the right balance between these two forces that we can improve our long-term relationships and get more of what we want.
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Unexpected
- By Garron Rose on 01-05-16
By: Adam D. Galinsky, and others
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Super Crunchers
- Why Thinking-by-Numbers Is the New Way to Be Smart
- By: Ian Ayres
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer
- Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Today, number crunching affects your life in ways you might never imagine. In this lively and groundbreaking new audiobook, economist Ian Ayres shows how today's best and brightest organizations are analyzing massive databases at lightening speed to provide greater insights into human behavior. They are the Super Crunchers.
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Great book on
- By Jon on 01-31-08
By: Ian Ayres
What listeners say about Nonsense
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Marcelo Henrique
- 02-22-16
This book was a good surprise
There are a lot of books out there that are a huge success but doesn't have much to offer in terms of things you can use in your life. When you read them, the ideas make sense, but after you close you usually forget about what you read.
Other books start great with first or second chapters that are great but at the beginning of the third chapter everything goes downhill (I'm looking at you "The Power of Habit").
This is not the case with this book. Every chapter have something new and interesting to offer. After the first ten minutes the book started to change my perspective on why we think and act in a certain way and helped me to understand why sometimes we do things that doesn't make a lot of sense. Most of self help books can't do that. But I'm not sure if this book can be defined as "self-help" because it's so well researched that I think it would be offensive. There's no magic or mambo jambo, just a lot of research condensed in a simple way.
The only issue I have with this book is the last chapter. It's a good take on creativity but it goes on and on telling details of stories that doesn't add anything to the point the author is trying to make.
This book even got me to order some really old dusty books from the 60's on cognitive dissonance and I have allergy to dust, so you can imagine how impressed I was with everything I read and heard.
I'm not saying this book is a revolution but it's good enough to make a dent on the way you see things.
For audiobook listeners the narrator is the author and he's OK but this book it's too good to not have a professional narrator.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Doug
- 07-08-16
Chapter on Psychology of Inventing is Pure Gold
Great book, good casual speaking style. Easy to listen to. He is not repeating the same old studies that most book have beat to death. Some interesting new ones in here regarding cognitive psychology. Chapter on Invention was valuable if you want to increase your creativity.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Ex
- 02-03-17
some good, some not so good
has some obvious stories and other that don't particularly relate to the topic at hand, but interesting nonetheless.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Douglas C. Bates
- 10-06-16
Great Material - Weak Delivery
The material in "Nonsense" is great. It explores why the mind greatly desires certainty such that it will prefer certain-sounding nonsense over easily observed contradictions of that nonsense. It explores why the mind tends to shun ambiguity and uncertainty, yet engaging with ambiguity and uncertainty has great value, in creativity, performance, and mental tranquility. It also gives some techniques on how to get comfortable with ambiguity and uncertainty and to use that comfort to achieve desired results.
The author narrates the book. He's one of the better author narrators, but presentation is slow and on the flat side. I almost never listen above 1x speed, but I had to do so with this book to make the pacing tolerable.
A further weakness is that the book could use tighter editing. It's not so bad that it's an article inflated into a book, but probably 20% of the words could be removed with no loss in meaning. One could say that the text wallows a bit too much in ambiguity and uncertainty. This, combined with the slow narration pace makes this book a somewhat annoying read despite the otherwise excellent quality of the material.
As with many books, it is most polished at the beginning and least polished towards the end. The book would be improved with a concluding summary that boils down the content to a few actionable ideas. My desire for this, is of course, is probably from my desire for certainty. But that's how we humans are.
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4 people found this helpful
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- RMeyer
- 11-07-15
I think I'd say it was pretty good
Would you consider the audio edition of Nonsense to be better than the print version?
I listen while commuting
What was one of the most memorable moments of Nonsense?
Oh, you know...
What about Jamie Holmes’s performance did you like?
The reading was very well done.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
at least a few...
Any additional comments?
no
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1 person found this helpful
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- Jon
- 01-20-18
Not Nonsense, Just Nonsensical
very disappointing. power not developed. ambiguity more appropriate than nonsense. prologue best section. Not recommended.
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- Jean
- 12-18-15
not much there
This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?
Various studies were recited with a rather general (but accurate) recurring message. We don't do as well when we are stressed. Some people are more troubled by vagueness than others.
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2 people found this helpful