Usually I review a book shortly after finishing it. This book was all over the place for me, so I decided to wait a few days before writing a review. The short version: everyone should read this book, at least the first few chapters. We all think that we behave in ways that make sense, because we are so good at rationalizing. But we hide from ourselves the ways we excuse and re-write our own behavior, at the same time that we vilify those we disagree with.

If I am rude to a store clerk, it's because I was having a bad day; but if I see someone else being rude, it's because they are by nature privileged and arrogant. It's not new material-- there has been all kinds of news about "cognitive dissonance" over the past few years-- but the information is laid out clearly and inescapably. There are moments when it is a deeply uncomfortable read.

But there are also moments when their arguments veer into absurdity. The authors have a reverence for science and scientific thinking that totally ignores that scientists can be just as human as the rest of us. They cling to their favorite theories in the face of new evidence, they have rivalries and jealousies and disagreements just like the rest of us.

I worked for an educational research firm once upon a time, and although I was thankful that the PI was ethical and did her best to accurately portray results, when you're dealing with raw data you realize just how much personal bias goes into interpretation. It can be relatively simple to construct the data set in such a way that it shows what you want it to. I do believe that over time the scientific method works as it is supposed to, but at any particular point in time, you're dealing with human beings with just as much resistance to cognitive dissonance as anyone else.

And also, the authors tend to plunge into a story at the moment that proves their point, without fully reporting the context. In their chapter on the large number of high profile cases of "repressed memories" back in the 90s, they jump right into the story at the point that a number of innocent people were accused of flagrant abuse that -- in retrospect-- was obviously not true. But they fail to mention that the therapists were trying to right a wrong that had gone on for generations, when the prevailing wisdom was that children should never be believed and should never criticize their elders, and that parents had the God-given right to raise their children however they see fit. Were those therapists wrong? Sometimes, maybe even often, yes. But in the context of their efforts to fundamentally change the way children were treated and perceived, most of them weren't quite the villains that they appear to be in this telling.

But with those caveats, this book is fascinating. An understanding of cognitive dissonance is one of the few things I can think of that is clearly and immediately relevant to resolving our polarized current moment. Highly recommended.