Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know

“Our ways of thinking become habits that can weigh us down, and we don’t bother to question them until it’s too late,” warns psychologist Grant (The Gift Inside the Box) in this energetic guide. Learning to question one’s assumptions requires a high level of “mental fitness,” he writes, which can be learned. To that end, he urges readers to stay flexible and adapt to change by identifying and managing such emotions as defensiveness and anger. Grant offers no shortage of examples of people who have managed to change their own or others’ minds, or those who have failed: Daryl Davis, for example, is a Black man who brought KKK members out of Klan membership by engaging them in thoughtful conversation, while Mike Lazaridis of Blackberry failed to adapt when he insisted no one would want an “entire computer” on their phone. In the way of advice, Grant encourages readers to develop intellectual humility, accept criticism of their work, and have a “challenge network” to prevent tunnel vision. Grant convincingly makes a case that it’s possible to prevent “locking our life GPS onto a single target [that] can give us the right directions to the wrong destination.” His guide is reliably lively, convincing, and approachable. Agent: Richard Pine, InkWell Management. (Feb.)