This is one of my new favorite books. I remember hearing about it years ago when I first got interested in human irrationality, but I totally forgot about it. When I was asking my followers for recommendations for books about cognitive dissonance, someone brought up this book. Once I picked it up, I couldn’t put it down. Kurzban has a unique perspective and theories about how our minds work, and how it leads us to irrational and hypocritical behavior. Not only did this book introduce me to a new way of looking at how our brains function and why we evolved that way, but he made so many solid arguments that I haven’t heard in any of the dozens of books I’ve read on this topic.

This book is amazing, and it’s not too complex for laypeople like myself. Kurzban also brings up some philosophical topics in the book like our sense of “self” as well as some moral philosophy. I’m definitely going to read this book again at some point, but for now, I’m going to go grab his other book and hope he’s in the process of writing another.