I highly recommend this book on recognizing our biases. By exposing the hidden biases of our human minds, Montell helps us make sense of a world that often doesn't make sense from the outside looking in.

Montell explores common misconceptions about how we think, these "magical" patterns that we mistake for the truth. She writes about the halo effect, the proportionality bias, the sunk cost fallacy, and many more biases. While she doesn't provide simple solutions to overcoming the biases, she does increase our awareness about them, which moves us one step closer towards escaping their influence.

My thanks to NetGalley for the review copy of this book.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #AtriaBooks for a free copy of #TheAgeOfMagicalOverthinking by Amanada Montell. All opinions are my own.

Not as strong as Cultish but still full of interesting information about the biases we have told through the lens of Montell's own lived experiences. If you've listened to her podcasts some of the stories are not new, but still she writes about data driven info in a fun and accessible way.

The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality is a book of essays that explore our culture, the cognitive biases it produces and the way we think about various life situations. Many of the essays tackle our online lives, but also our day to day relationships, and even our hobbies.

I found these essays fascinating. Montell writes candidly about her own life while also being informative and hilarious. This was so easy to read and each essay really made me think. You may already be familiar with many of the biases Montell explores, but she does an excellent job at explaining and relating them to modern life.

Some of my favorite essays include:
-"A Toxic Relationship Is Just a Cult of One" which discusses toxic relationships and breakups
-"Time to Spiral" which discusses the media, algorithms and how when we learn something new, it can feel threatening...even when the knowledge is not actually new and has existed for a long time
-"Nostalgia Porn" which explores how we are nostalgic for the past and view the present as worse than the past
-"The Life-Changing Magic of Becoming a Mediocre Crafter" which is about crafting and labor and the positive emotions it can evoke

I would recommend this to anyone interested in culture, biases, and ways of thinking more generally. I think this is a book everyone can find themselves in. Keep in mind, this is less of a social science book and more of a book about the author and our culture more broadly.

Everyone should read this book. I intend to read it again, and probably read several of the studies cited. Montell writes about cognitive biases from both a personal and scientific perspective. I enjoyed both -- I could relate to her realizing that she had engaged in illogical thinking while being able to reflect honestly and get to the truth. It's an ongoing process, for a lot of reasons, not something to feel bad or guilty about.
Besides that, it's downright interesting to see some of the ways my mind tricks me into finding easier solutions. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this

Amanda Montell shares concepts in such an easily understandable and consumable manner, perfect for the layman. As a psychotherapist, these topics weren’t new to me, but they still felt fresh. It was easy for me to link certain biases she mentioned to corresponding cognitive distortions — irrationality is irrationality after all. One of my favorite parts of the book was when she shared that “Plenty of everyday moods, pair with a respective bias.” Each chapter could have been the topic of its own book, but I really enjoyed how she provided everything is such concise little bites. This was a great follow-up to her book Cultish.

*Thank you to NetGalley for graciously providing an eARC. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed the Age of Magical Overthinking! I liked the various types of bias inherent in our world. I loved the Sunk Cost Fallacy chapter. I think this was a more personal book for Montell and I appreciated her anecdotes

I thought it was a fascinating look at how I think and how I cope to handle the real world. I tend to become nostalgic or use manifestation as a way to handle my anxiety and it made me think a lot about that. The book didn't preach on whether or not it is bad but the research and stories all point to a collective way of thought.

Amanda Montell has the amazing ability to make non-fiction a page-turning experience. This book is well-researched and really makes the reader think. Drawing from relatable experiences, scientific studies, and social media, Montell hits the nail on the head about society today. Must-read author every time.

4/5

“While magical thinking is an age-old habit, overthinking feels distinct to the modern era - a product of our innate superstitions clashing with information overload, mass loneliness, and a capitalistic pressure to ‘know’ everything under the sun.”

Amanda Montell delves into the inner workings of the human mind and its biases in this modern Information Age, arguing that our brain’s coping mechanisms have become so overloaded that our irrationality has become “magical.” “Magical Thinking” is broadly defined as the belief that your internal thoughts affect the external world, even in supposedly unrelated events. In each chapter, Montell goes into cognitive biases and relates them to social phenomena from the 21st century - from how the “Halo Effect” cultivates extreme amounts of worship and hatred in celebrities such as Taylor Swift and how the “Sunk Cost Fallacy” can keep up in not-so-good relationships just because of how much time some believe they may have already invested in it.

“We’re living in what they call the ‘Information Age,’ but life only seems to be making less sense. We’re isolated, listless, burnt out on screens, cutting loved ones out like tumors in the spirit of ‘boundaries,’ failing to understand other people’s choices or even our own.”

I really liked reading this and would catch myself smiling at some parts being like - wow, I’ve done this before. While not the best nonfiction I’ve ever read, this is an easy and interesting read that makes you think about how intricate and weird your mind really is. Montell even used her own experiences in this, making it seem like a personal read at times (kind of like listening to an older sister who majored in psychology haha). I heard people say it’s not as good as Cultish, but I’ve never read that before. All I know is that I want to read more of Montell’s work after finishing this one!

Amanda Montell is one of the most intellectually and linguistically=gifted writers out there, and whereas I'm no slouch in those areas (particularly the latter), I mean it as a compliment when I say that this book was almost too much for me. It was SO smart -- and at its best when examining the ridiculous through that intelligent lens -- that I felt I wasn't getting it some of the time, or that the scope was too much. Maybe the news cycle has finally broken my brain. It's not bad to be humbled now and then, but I do admit that I found her previous books -- Cultish and Wordslut, which I REALLY loved -- more accessible and enjoyable to read. Regardless, she's an intensely gifted and thoughtful cultural commentator, and we could do with more of those these days.

I really loved Amanda Montell’s previous books, so I was a little disappointed by this one. It felt really disjointed and more memoir-esque while trying to be relevant. It felt a bit like pop psychology but in a way that felt more self-serving than enjoyable.

I was not able to review and rate The Age of Magical Overthinking by the publish date but now that I have I gave it 5 stars.

Well that was disappointing. I thought this would be an interesting insight into the world of overthinking, chronically online folks, and possibly some deeper dives on the way that we can overcome overthinking.

What I got was a self serving monolog about human behaviors that the author seems to think are fact with very little to back up their claims.

While I didn't LOVE Cultish, I had a fun time reading it. That was not the case with this book. I had a really hard time working my way through it and was bored for most of the read. The book is a mix between pseudoscience/psychology and memoir, but the combination of the two didn't work for me. Neither was well developed enough. The part that veered more towards textbook didn't seem all that well researched to me, which is also how I felt while reading Cultish. And the memoir snippets were too all over the place for me to get invested in that side of things.

Thank you for the advanced copy of this book! I will be posting my review on social media, to include Instagram, Amazon, Goodreads, and Instagram!

As a chronic overthinker, I really liked the premise of this book. In an age where people are constantly on edge and second-guessing their every move, the moves of those around them, I was looking forward to learning more about the psychology behind these phenomena. As intriguing as this book was, it didn't hold my interest the way I thought it would. Each chapter was meant to uncover a new psychological trap of the (typically American) psyche, but it felt repetitive. You can tell Montell wants to be (or is?) a novelist with her overuse of flowery language, idioms, and similes. If you are brand-new to the psychology of our "chronically online" society, this book may be eye-opening for you. If you aren't, I don't think you'll learn much.

2.5 Rounded Up.

I received an advanced copy of The Age of Magical Overthinking by Amanda Montell from the publisher Atria Books via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Montell has written two books that are based in both linguistic and sociological studies and now she’s using this information to study the human mind. The concept of magical thinking as defined here is the idea that your internal thoughts can affect unrelated events in your external life. This kind of thinking is like manifesting your way out of poverty, or beating cancer with positive vows, or how do it yourself lifestyle might just save you in the apocalypse. Here Montell explores this thinking and those times where it seemingly works but also the danger it can cause.

I was very underwhelmed. I thought this book would be more based in fact or science, but really this book reads as a memoir or essay collection. I think that the fact it’s being kind of pitched as a social science book, it seems problematic. If it was a collection of essays, I think it would be less problematic.

It also feels incomplete again, perhaps because I’m waiting for more facts.

"The Age of Magical Overthinking" by Amanda Montell is a witty and insightful observation of the ways in which language can both empower and constrain us. Montell's sharp wit and engaging writing style make even the most complex linguistic concepts accessible and entertaining, ensuring that readers will come away with a newfound appreciation for the power of words. One of the book's greatest strengths is its blend of academic research and real-world examples. Montell doesn't shy away from acknowledging her own biases and blind spots, and she invites readers to interrogate their own assumptions and preconceptions about language and communication. The book is a thought-provoking and immensely entertaining read that offers valuable insights into the power and potential of language. A few chapters seemed to meander while explaining different biases, so I wish they were a bit more focused. Overall very interesting!

Thank you Netgalley for this eARC!

Amanda Montell doesn't miss. I've read her previous books and listen to her podcast and her commentary and analysis is always such a good balance of sharp while still being open minded to new information. Her work is compulsively readable but I do recommend the audiobook version for a podcast like feel.