Background
Written in July of 2021, The Life Changing Science of Detecting Bullshit is a book describing how we are all full of it.
My Thoughts
This was a decent read. I didn’t have any life changing moments while reading but I can say it primed me to be a little less full of myself and more inclined to listen closer to what people are saying. As the Savior said, “But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.” (Matt 5:37)
However, we all like a good tale as well. John Petrocelli does a good job in rating what a person says as Bullshit (and uses the word frequently) by giving in an index of so many flies. (1 through 3.) A BS fly index of 1 would just be someone trying to sound like he saw the game last night when really he has no idea what he is talking about. Still BS but harmless. However, he rated the Mao’s “great leap forward” (resulting in 30 million to 55 million deaths) with a BS index of 3. That’s a pretty big jump in my estimation and I felt like there could be a little more gray in the scale.
Recommendation
I liked it but I won’t be reading it again.