“Now you’re looking for the secret,” goes a memorable quote from Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige. “But you won’t find it because of course, you’re not really looking . . . You want to be fooled.”
Granted, there’s a bit of fun in letting yourself be deceived by a magic trick or talented stage illusionist. But when a convincing con artist shows up at our door or in our inbox, we want the power to see through their lies. With a little help from the five excellent books below, you’ll be prepared to see deception coming from a mile away.
Nobody’s Fool: Why We Get Taken In and What We Can Do About It
By Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris
Two psychologists describe the key habits of thinking and reasoning that serve us well most of the time but make us vulnerable to deception—like our tendency to accept what we see, stick to our commitments, and overvalue precision and consistency. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by co-author Daniel Simons, in the Next Big Idea App
Fool Proof: How Fear of Playing the Sucker Shapes Our Selves and the Social Order―and What We Can Do About It
By Tess Wilkinson-Ryan
Facing the fear of being suckered head-on means deciding for ourselves what risks to take, what relationships to invest in, when to share, and when to protest—drafting a new template for how to live with integrity in a sucker’s world. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Tess Wilkinson-Ryan, in the Next Big Idea App
The Delusions of Crowds: Why People Go Mad in Groups
By William J. Bernstein
From the award-winning author of A Splendid Exchange comes a fascinating new history of financial and religious mass manias over the past five centuries. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author William J. Bernstein, in the Next Big Idea App
Fool Me Once: Scams, Stories, and Secrets from the Trillion-Dollar Fraud Industry
By Kelly Richmond Pope
A renowned forensic accounting expert shows fraud in action, uncovering what makes perps tick, victims so gullible, and whistleblowers so morally righteous, while also encouraging us to look at our own behaviors and motivations in the hope of protecting ourselves and our companies. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Kelly Richmond Pope, in the Next Big Idea App
Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects Our Minds and How to Build Immunity
By Sander van der Linden
Deconstructing the characteristic techniques of conspiracies and misinformation, a University of Cambridge professor gives readers practical tools to defend themselves and others against nefarious persuasion―whether at scale or around their own dinner table. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Sander van der Linden, in the Next Big Idea App
The Key Ideas in 15 Minutes
“If you are going to get anywhere in life, you have to read a lot of books,” Roald Dahl once famously said. The only trouble is, reading even one book from cover to cover takes hours—and you may not have many hours to spare.
But imagine for a moment: What if you could read a groundbreaking new book every day? Or even better, what if you could invite a world-renowned thinker into your earbuds, where they personally describe the 5 key takeaways from their work in just 15 minutes?
With the Next Big Idea App, we’ve turned this fantasy into a reality. We partnered with hundreds of acclaimed authors to create “Book Bites,” short audio summaries of the latest nonfiction that are prepared and read aloud by the authors themselves. Discover cutting-edge leadership skills, productivity hacks, the science of happiness and well-being, and much more—all in the time it takes to drive to work or walk the dog.
Go Deeper with a Next Big Idea Club Membership
The Next Big Idea App is free for anyone to try—and if you love it, we invite you to become an official member of the Next Big Idea Club. Membership grants you unlimited access to Book Bites and unlocks early-release, ad-free episodes of our LinkedIn-partnered podcast. You also gain entry to our private online discussion group, where you can talk big ideas with fellow club members and join exclusive live Q&A sessions with featured authors.
For a more focused learning experience, we recommend a Hardcover or eBook Membership. Every few months, legendary authors and club curators Malcolm Gladwell, Susan Cain, Adam Grant, and Daniel Pink select two new nonfiction books as the must-reads of the season. We then send hardcover copies straight to your doorstep, or eBook versions to your favorite digital device. We also collaborate with the authors of selected books to produce original reading guides and premium video e-courses, 50-minute master classes that take you step by step through their most life-changing ideas. And yes, it’s all available through the Next Big Idea App.
Learn Faster, from the World’s Leading Thinkers
Whether you prefer to read, listen, or watch, the Next Big Idea is here to help you work smarter and live better. Wake up with an always-fresh Idea of the Day, the perfect shot of inspiration to go with your morning coffee. Then dive into one of our Challenges, hand-picked collections of Book Bites that form crash courses in subjects like communication, motivation, and career acceleration. Later, watch the playback of an interview with U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, Stanford psychologist Jennifer Eberhardt, or philosopher John Kaag. And be sure to check the “Events” tab in the app, so that you can join an upcoming live Q&A and personally chat with the next featured thought leader.
If you’re hoping to grow as a person or as a professional, we hope you’ll join us and tens of thousands of others who enjoy the Next Big Idea. Get started by downloading the app today!
