nonsense -- a book review

Jamie Holmes' Nonsense: The Power of Not Knowing defies simple description, unlike any number of other popular psychology texts that intend to teach readers "seven simple steps" for overcoming uncertainty.  Instead, Holmes weaves together an interesting array of diverse stories about ambiguity.  It turns out that there’s a great deal in common with a ostensibly disparate events:  A 1950s doomsday group, the precipitous increase in marriages after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the 1992 Ruby Ridge standoff, and the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

Nonsense highlights the important contributions embracing uncertainly make to negotiating the real world of our everyday lives.  Holmes helps us understand that only do we need to tolerate uncertainty as a necessary and a harsh reality of life, but that we need to begin thinking of it as beneficial.  As Holmes writes, "In an increasingly complex, unpredictable world, what matters most isn't IQ, willpower, or confidence in what we know.  It's how we deal with what we don't understand".

That makes Nonsense essential reading.

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I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.