• Author: Robert  Burton
  
• ISBN-13: 9780312359201
• Format: Hardcover, 272pp
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Pub. Date: February 2008

The day after the space shuttle Challenger disaster, a psychology professor names Ulric Neisser had his students write precisely where they'd been when they heard about the explosion. Two and a half years later, he asked them for the same information. While fewer than one in ten got the details right, almost all were certain that their memories were accurate, and many couldn't be dissuaded even after seeing their original notes. For neurologist Robert A. Burton, the Challenger study is emblematic of an essential quality of the human mind and evocative of the psychology underlying everything from nationalism to fundamentalism. In his brilliant new book, Bur-ton systematically shows that certainty is a mental state, a feeling like anger or pride that can help guide us, but that doesn't dependably reflect object truth. Evidence for Burrton's fascinating insight is everywhere around us, and On Being CertainThe New England Journal of Medicine, as well as the front page of The New York Times, to consider the myriad ways in which the brain constructs a useful worldview-often by manipulating details for the sake of consistency-and sometimes, as in the case of schizophrenia, takes untenable liberties. Faces with inherent unreliability of the human mind, a lesser author might become cynical. Burton, however, is able to appreciate the cultural of unjustified certainty, which fuels the impulsive creativity of scientists and artists alike. Equally important, he argues that :if science can shame us into questioning the nature of conviction, we might develop some degree of tolerance an increased willingness to consideralternative ideas." In the polarizing atmosphere of the 2008 election. On Being Certain ought to be required reading for every candidate-and for every citizen. expertly weaves together studies from Science and

—Jonathon Keats

(Source: Forbes)

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