Reddit mentions of You are Now Less Dumb: How to Conquer Mob Mentality, How to Buy Happiness, and All the Other Ways to Outsmart Yourself

I would like to begin by saying that I congratulate the fact that a young person has chosen to explore new and varied cultures. Such a desire should be praised and encouraged by all with the smallest conceivable amount of wonder in their heart.

But the way one must approach this manner is in the way once described by Aristotle, one must be able to contemplate an idea without accepting it. I fear your venture, one certainly begun with good intent, falls short of its potential.

Human understanding of the world is a quality which has steadily increased in depth over our history. We are at the forefront of universal comprehension in terms of our ability to extract information from the world. One of our most profound lessons learned from this human undertaking concerns the inherent “glitches” in human judgment, viz a viz implicit and explicit biases. These interfere with our ability to have a genuine and valid interface with the world. We’ve learned techniques to manage these flaws and they have proved that, with diligence and wisdom, we can learn truths about the world about us.

[As an aside, the book You Are Now Less Dumb by David McRaney is a wonderful and fun read on modern understanding of these "glitches".]

Ancient cultures, such as those you’ve mentioned, have been oft demonstrated to have had -- as well as those which persist to this day -- erroneous beliefs on numerous matters. Chief among them is that of causality.

Causality is something which is far better understood as it falls well under the scope of human understanding. Many of these cultures’ ideas are the results of our shared human glitches. These ideas which you accept as valid fall under that canopy.

We better understand that which was once immobile from the realm of the “mystical”. Many miracles of the past are found in today’s elementary school homework. The gods no longer be evoked to explain the movements within the earth, the heavenly bodies, or the origins of life.

We’re a species that grows and is able to learn from the past.

We expand, clarify, and preen the lexicon of human comprehension as time passes.

I encourage you to stay your acceptance of these error born conceptions of the world and consider the full realm of the human understanding of our own failings, as well as our successes when contemplating new information.

This question gets asked a lot! Good on ya for reading outside your field of study.

Best recommendation for easy readability:

https://youarenotsosmart.com/

"You are Not so Smart", and possibly it's follow up (*which I haven't read)

https://www.amazon.com/You-Are-Not-So-Smart/dp/1592407366

https://www.amazon.com/You-are-Now-Less-Dumb/dp/1592408796/

Sooo many lol, here are some of my favorites.

ADHD

Smart But Stuck: Emotions in Teens and Adults with ADHD https://www.amazon.com/dp/111827928X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_1.Y9ybCSGW7GF

General Brain Stuff
You Are Not So Smart: Why You Have Too Many Friends on Facebook, Why Your Memory Is Mostly Fiction, an d 46 Other Ways You're Deluding Yourself https://www.amazon.com/dp/1592407366/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_abZ9ybEHGSMEK

You are Now Less Dumb: How to Conquer Mob Mentality, How to Buy Happiness, and All the Other Ways to Outsmart Yourself https://www.amazon.com/dp/1592408796/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_vbZ9ybKY1636G

School/Study Help
A Mind for Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science (Even If You Flunked Algebra) https://www.amazon.com/dp/039916524X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_gcZ9ybCDM8Q6K

Social/Relationship skills
What Every BODY is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide to Speed-Reading People https://www.amazon.com/dp/0061438294/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_1cZ9ybQJXS3BK

The Chemistry Between Us: Love, Sex, and the Science of Attraction https://www.amazon.com/dp/1591846617/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_OdZ9ybBFRG9R4

Cosmology

Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos https://www.amazon.com/dp/1400033721/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_GeZ9ybHP9J2J5

Each one of these books has had a big impact on me, as a side note I'm have become a big fan of audible since I normally have a hard time sitting still to read, so I'd recommend giving it a try if you never have. You'll be surprised how much of a book you can comprehend while listening to it as do you other random chores and stuff throughout the day.

You Are Not So Smart and You Are Now Less Dumb by David McRaney

This is a great and accessible book about pop-psychology, written from a humorous perspective. I enjoyed it a lot.
http://www.amazon.com/You-Are-Now-Less-Dumb/dp/1592408796/ref=asap_B005T65KZA_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1416794093&sr=1-2