Suspicious Minds
Why We Believe Conspiracy Theories
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Narrated by:
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Charles Constant
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By:
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Rob Brotherton
About this listen
Conspiracy theorists do not wear tin-foil hats (for the most part). They are not just a few kooks lurking on the paranoid fringes of society with bizarre ideas about shape-shifting reptilian aliens running society in secret. They walk among us. They are us.
Everyone loves a good conspiracy. Yet conspiracy theories are not a recent invention. And they are not always a harmless curiosity. In Suspicious Minds, Rob Brotherton explores the history and consequences of conspiracism, and delves into the research that offers insights into why so many of us are drawn to implausible, unproven and unproveable conspiracy theories. They resonate with some of our brain's built-in quirks and foibles, and tap into some of our deepest desires, fears, and assumptions about the world.
The fascinating and often surprising psychology of conspiracy theories tells us a lot - not just why we are drawn to theories about sinister schemes, but about how our minds are wired and, indeed, why we believe anything at all. Conspiracy theories are not some psychological aberration - they're a predictable product of how brains work. This book will tell you why, and what it means.
©2015 Rob Brotherton (P)2020 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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Story
In True or False, former CIA analyst Cindy Otis takes listeners through the history and impact of misinformation over the centuries, sharing stories from the past and insights that listeners today can gain from them. Then, she shares lessons learned in over a decade working for the CIA, including actionable tips on how to spot fake news, how to make sense of the information we receive each day, and, most importantly, how to understand and see past our own information biases so that we can think critically about important issues and put events happening around us into context.
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Good Introduction
- By Chima Onukwuru on 01-17-21
By: Cindy L. Otis
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Future Babble
- Why Expert Predictions Fail - and Why We Believe Them Anyway
- By: Dan Gardner
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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In Future Babble, award-winning journalist Dan Gardner presents landmark research debunking the whole expert prediction industry and explores our obsession with the future. The truth is that experts are about as accurate as dart-throwing monkeys.
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Future Babble Babble
- By Karen on 05-04-11
By: Dan Gardner
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The Story Paradox
- How Our Love of Storytelling Builds Societies and Tears Them Down
- By: Jonathan Gottschall
- Narrated by: Joshua Kane
- Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Humans are storytelling animals. Stories are what make our societies possible. Countless books celebrate their virtues. But Jonathan Gottschall, an expert on the science of stories, argues that there is a dark side to storytelling we can no longer ignore. Storytelling, the very tradition that built human civilization, may be the thing that destroys it.
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A bit of a mixed bag with some amazing discussion
- By Justin on 04-27-22
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Giving the Devil His Due
- Reflections of a Scientific Humanist
- By: Michael Shermer
- Narrated by: Michael Shermer
- Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Who is the "Devil"? And what is he due? The devil is anyone who disagrees with you. And what he is due is the right to speak his mind. He must have this for your own safety's sake, because his freedom is inextricably tied to your own. If he can be censored, why shouldn't you be censored? If we put barriers up to silence "unpleasant" ideas, what's to stop the silencing of any discussion? This book is a full-throated defense of free speech and open inquiry in politics, science, and culture by the New York Times best-selling author and skeptic Michael Shermer.
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Flawed Audio
- By Private on 04-10-20
By: Michael Shermer
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Fantasyland
- How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History
- By: Kurt Andersen
- Narrated by: Kurt Andersen
- Length: 19 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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A razor-sharp thinker offers a new understanding of our post-truth world and explains the American instinct to believe in make-believe, from the Pilgrims to P. T. Barnum to Disneyland to zealots of every stripe...to Donald Trump. In this sweeping, eloquent history of America, Kurt Andersen demonstrates that what's happening in our country today - this strange, post-factual, "fake news" moment we're all living through - is not something entirely new, but rather the ultimate expression of our national character and path.
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Bland Title For An Amazing Book!
- By David Larson on 09-07-17
By: Kurt Andersen
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Republic of Lies
- American Conspiracy Theorists and Their Surprising Rise to Power
- By: Anna Merlan
- Narrated by: Suehyla El-Attar, Anna Merlan - introduction
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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American society has always been fertile ground for conspiracy theories, but with the election of Donald Trump, previously outlandish ideas suddenly attained legitimacy. Trump himself is a conspiracy enthusiast: from his claim that global warming is a Chinese hoax to the accusations of “fake news”, he has fanned the flames of suspicion. But it was not by the power of one man alone that these ideas gained new power. Republic of Lies looks beyond the caricatures of conspiracy theorists to explain their tenacity.
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even-handed and thought-provoking
- By Lenny Pozner on 04-17-19
By: Anna Merlan
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Idiot America
- How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free
- By: Charles P. Pierce
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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The culture wars are over and the idiots have won. This is a veteran journalist’s caustically funny, righteously angry lament about the glorification of ignorance in the United States. The three Great Premises of Idiot America: · Any theory is valid if it sells books, soaks up ratings, or otherwise moves units; anything can be true if someone says it loudly enough; "fact" is that which enough people believe. And "truth" is determined by how fervently they believe it.
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You Get What You Paid For
- By Vargas on 09-19-11
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Would You Kill the Fat Man?
- By: David Edmonds
- Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong
- Length: 5 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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A train is racing toward five men, tied to the track. Unless the train is stopped, it will inevitably kill all five men. If a fat man is pushed onto the line, although he will die, his body will stop the train, saving five lives. Would you kill the fat man? As David Edmonds shows, answering the question is far more complex, and important, than it first appears. In fact, how we answer it tells us a great deal about right and wrong.
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Wonderfully Rendered Book...
- By Douglas on 01-25-14
By: David Edmonds
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Truth Is a Lonely Warrior
- By: James Perloff
- Narrated by: Michael Joseph
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Twenty-five years after publication of The Shadows of Power, James Perloff returns to the venue of political history, and takes you where the mass media won’t.
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Gives you a lot to think about
- By Kevin Vanderwater on 09-11-24
By: James Perloff
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Slanted
- How the News Media Taught Us to Love Censorship and Hate Journalism
- By: Sharyl Attkisson
- Narrated by: Sharyl Attkisson
- Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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We have reached a state of utter absurdity, where journalism schools teach students that their own personal truth or chosen narratives matter more than reality. In Slanted, Attkisson digs into the language of propagandists, the persistence of false media narratives, the driving forces behind today's dangerous blend of facts and opinion, the abandonment of journalism ethics, and the new, Orwellian definition of what it means to report the news.
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Connecting the dots
- By Amy Cox on 11-29-20
By: Sharyl Attkisson
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The Belief Instinct
- The Psychology of Souls, Destiny, and the Meaning of Life
- By: Jesse Bering
- Narrated by: Jesse Bering
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Why is belief so hard to shake? Despite our best attempts to embrace rational thought and reject superstition, we often find ourselves appealing to unseen forces that guide our destiny, wondering who might be watching us as we go about our lives, and imagining what might come after death. In this lively and masterfully argued new book, Jesse Bering unveils the psychological underpinnings of why we believe.
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engaging and insightful
- By juliagee on 01-02-15
By: Jesse Bering
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The Death of Truth
- Notes on Falsehood in the Age of Trump
- By: Michiko Kakutani
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 3 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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We live in a time when the very idea of objective truth is mocked and discounted by the occupants of the White House. Discredited conspiracy theories and ideologies have resurfaced, proven science is once more up for debate, and Russian propaganda floods our screens. The wisdom of the crowd has usurped research and expertise, and we are each left clinging to the beliefs that best confirm our biases.
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Prescient Account of the Mechanics of Tyranny
- By Brian Price on 07-27-18
By: Michiko Kakutani
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The Truth About Lies
- The Illusion of Honesty and the Evolution of Deceit
- By: Aja Raden
- Narrated by: Aja Raden
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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In her previous book, Stoned, Raden asked, “What makes a thing valuable?” In The Truth About Lies, she asks “What makes a thing real?” With cutting wit and a deft touch, Raden untangles the relationship of truth to lie, belief to faith, and deception to propaganda. The Truth About Lies will change everything you thought you knew about what you know, and whether you ever really know it.
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Best book of 2021 for me!
- By James Richardson on 02-17-22
By: Aja Raden
What listeners say about Suspicious Minds
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Jesse Hodges
- 01-28-23
A great overview of the conspiratorialness we all hold and what makes for unhealthy imbalances
The chapter on defining conspiracy theory is exceptionally good. Just what I was looking for.
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- C.Schillings~
- 07-03-24
Intuitive & Concise & great narration
Great book here, very listener friendly, good narrator, gives us a broad but approachable overview of conspiracy theories and some of their origins along with a lot of the psychology behind what causes them. Pretty relevant to the 21st century online experience. There are other books out there I've read a few but Mr. Brotherton does a great job pulling them together and breaking them down, including a few I'd never even heard of yet. I highly recommend this one. Now if you'll excuse me I'm off to finally get that elusive picture of the edge of the planet. ;))
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- dennis katsefes
- 12-27-20
Enlightening ....nonsense makes sense.
never care what i am thinking, or doing. it will never make sense. frailties of the human mind ,double cross our thinking. what is obvious isn't and what is confusing is simple. Conspiracy is a way to play the game of life. power conspires, corrupt minds, insarional need for being tight. and insarional need for mind altering things that enable others to conspire and destroy.
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- Marsha L. Woerner
- 07-07-22
Conspiracy theories are everywhere
(As posted in Goodreads)
I appreciate the overview of conspiracy theories and their connection to each other as well as their bases. I like to consider myself "above" all that, but I KNOW that that's just self-delusion and aggrandizement.
Going down the list of conspiracy theories and ranking them 1-7, I can truly rank all of the ones mentioned as a "1" (adamantly and clearly ESCHEW the idea in all of its aspects), but the things mentioned were cleanly, to me anyway, easy to dismiss.
I like his pointing out how easy it is to assume that you are trying to get the correct answer while clearly missing points of the question that don't match your initial reception (2,4,6 OBVIOUSLY indicates even integers, and has nothing to do with anything else…). We forget how easy it is to be led astray by our assumptions, and we all know that "Dr. Google" answers all questions exactly the way WE want them answered.
I already knew a lot of what he had to say, but the overall form and format was different and eye-opening.
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- Dr.
- 11-25-21
A very important book
this book offers critical perspective and insight into our imperfect ways of thinking and provides a framework for better understanding the people and world around us.
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- Sean the Bean Guy
- 12-04-23
broke down "us vrs them" mentality in conspiracy thinking, very insightful
well written, great read for someone who wants to understand how avid conspiracy minded people think and how that thinking is not unique to them at all, even when the ideas are far fetched.
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- Amazon Customer
- 04-19-22
a lot to like, but not perfect
I was enjoying this book until the author got into a protracted and egregiously bad reading of Richard Hofstadter, so bad that it begs the question of whether he actually read "The Paranoid Style in American Politics" at all (the essay or book).
It isn't that I think nothing can be added to an essay written 70 years ago, by a historian who died 50 years ago.
But aside from constantly invoking the piece and its author, the strawman Brotherton attacks has very little to identify it with Hofstadter's work.
I'm not going to tell you not to buy this book, but it's hard for me to express the disappointment and frustration I felt when I got to that part, and I realized that Brotherton might be as wrong in his takes on subjects that I'm not familiar with, as he is on Hofstadter (Which I'm at least more familiar with than Rob Brotherton apparently is).
In fact, I'm gonna tell you to buy this book, because it's a lot of fun, but you also should read Richard Hofstadter's essay/book (the former is available for free online, the latter is put on sale regularly on Kindle).
And maybe read this book first, so you won't be put off by its wretched critique of the other book.
and, Finally, I'm gonna tell you, to get outta my, face!!
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