Rating: 
Summary: Bound to start an argument
Review: More babies are not born during a full moon. After a job interview, the wrong person is likely to be hired. Being pushy does not help you get along in life. Infertile couples who adopt are not more likely to conceive. So why do some many people believe it is so? An excellent book full of the answers that, alas, will not convince the people who need to hear it most.
Rating:
Summary: Worth every page
Review: Read it and pass it on! I have a business background. My girl friend has a psychology background, and we both enjoyed it as much as each other. The impact of self-fulfilling prophecies, confirmatory search strategies or hidden data problems, ..., second hand-information biases, ... or ESP, are all so common in our everyday life. But still, unless you are made aware of them, you often fail to notice them and act upon them. This book is worth every page!
Rating:
Summary: A-ha!
Review: The Sports Illustrated curse is NOT real. Our gut feelings about winning streaks and losing streaks are way off. And there's sort of an illusion that makes punishment look more effective than it probably is and reward look less effective than it probably is (reward has a tougher row to hoe, in fact). These are among Gilovich's more memorable points. Each is backed up with plain reasoning AND hard data. It's just the kind of book that'll make you THINK about what you're thinking. An excellent start down that path, one we all need to take. I enjoyed it and got a lot out of it. I have re-read parts of it a few times in the years since I first bought it. Written by a social psychologist for a lay audience. It's well organized and easily digestible as long as you are willing to stop and think every so often as you read. I'd like to see this book handed out to every new college student, or, maybe better, required reading for every high school student.
Rating:
Summary: Do Away With All that Hogwash!
Review: This book is not for the arbitrary skeptic. It's a guide on fundamental reasoning and how to approach the many daily issues and so-called facts, ideas, or "truths" we take fore granted and at face value.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting but dense
Review: This book relates to critical thinking, but rather than focus on the use of language (semantics) or argument structure (logic), it addresses the psychology of our thinking. In other words, why are positive connotations more "attractive" to us that negative ones (e.g., "All men are mortal" vs. "All non-mortals are non-men"), or why do we believe in ESP, urban myths, and the like. It is an interesting book with application to all of our lives. On the negative side, I agree with the reviewer who complained that this book bogs down in jargon. I often found myself losing focus of the main points due to the heavy smattering of statistical and supporting data. Bottom line: this book is fascinating but it requires a lot of focus to get through.
Rating: 
Summary: A must-read book for skeptics and cynics.
Review: This book takes on superstition, holistic medicine, luck, hot streaks and a whole host of intangibles. The content of the book is difficult to grasp, but ultimately compelling. A discourse on human belief systems and the tenacity with which we cling to them is examined through the eyes of a social scientist. Without judgement, Gilovich points out that many of our perceptions and beliefs are totally unfounded even with evidence to the contrary. A controversial chapter on the "hot hand theory" is worth a read.
Rating:
Summary: Should be required reading in every college
Review: This book teaches one of the most important lessons anyone can learn: that we all make mistakes. Most of us overestimate the frequency of events which receive wide media coverage, like plane crashes. We strain to find significance in random data, and believe things we want to believe even if there's no evidence to support them. "How We Know What Isn't So" explains why, and shows us how to overcome the factors which produce such systematic error. Until very recently, many of the most egregiously false claims never reached a broad audience. Now that the Web allows anyone with rudimentary skills to create an impressive-looking, authoritative-sounding Web site, the lessons of this book are more important than ever.
Rating:
Summary: An easy-to-read primer on faulty reasoning
Review: This book's strength lies in Gilovich's ability to make science, statistics, and the tools of critical thinking accessible to anyone. Armed with the examples and reasoning of this excellent work, anyone would be able to stand up to the most fervent proponents of bogus "phenomena" like certain alternative therapies and the easy lure of seeing "extra-sensory" connections where none exist. Most importantly, Gilovich is able to explain in simple language why the average reader should be wary of anecdotal evidence, and should not fail to look at such "evidence" in its overall context. In other words, the book brings home the importance of the scientific method and tenaciously holds to that standard. Interestingly, in the case of the smallest bit of empirical evidence for ESP ("Ganzfeld" experiments), the book recites the data without bias against such phenomena. Instead, as is his way, Gilovich simply follows the data where it leads. The author should rank in the same league as Steven Jay Gould and Carl Sagan in terms of bringing science to the lay reader.
Rating:
Summary: How People Don't Think
Review: This is a fascinating discourse on the pitfalls of human reasoning. Gilovich covers everything from the counter-intuitiveness of many facts governing probability, to the effects of absent data, to debunking often reported stories of older research, such as the case of "Little Albert," a toddler who was made to be afraid of white rats, by pairing any contact with white rats with an unpleasant stimulus. Gilovich has personally conducted numerous research trials exploring the ways people learn and reason, and draws on this background, as well as a thorough command of other research into relevant areas. In one experiment, students were asked to guess their class rankings in regard to leadership abilities: only 2% thought they were below average, while a full 60% thought they were in the top 10%! Gilovich has a very smooth writing style, and he is writing here for laymen. In spite of the huge amount of valuable information presented, the 215 page book is easy-going, and I think most people would finish it in a few days. This is a book you will refer back to time and again, so buying a personal copy is a good idea.
Rating:
Summary: Teaching Critical Thinking
Review: This is an excellent review of some basics for critical thinking that should be required college reading. Presented from the perspective of social psychology, the author, in a way understandable to the lay reader, explains and describes the methods we all use to adhere to false beliefs. He presents examples and evidence that clearly demonstrate the strong influence the need to be "right" and "liked" has on each of us as we "objectively" examine our beliefs and seek justification for them. An excellent introduction to the field of social psychology that ends with a convincing argument in favor of studying the "soft" sciences.
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