Build Your BS Detector: A 7-Day Guide to Critical Thinking

Day 1 is the foundational mindset. Carl Sagan gives you the ultimate 'Baloney Detection Kit' in this passionate defense of science and reason. It's the essential starting point for learning how to think skeptically and value evidence above all else.

After Sagan gave you the tools for detecting BS in the world, this book helps you detect it in yourself. It reveals the two systems of your brain and the army of cognitive biases that make your own judgment so flawed. You have to know your own weaknesses first.

Now that you understand your own biases from yesterday's book, let's look at how others manipulate you with data. This classic is a short, sharp, and hilarious guide to all the ways people use stats to deceive you. You'll never trust a graph again (in a good way).

After learning how stats can lie, Factfulness teaches you how they can tell the truth. This book is the ultimate antidote to the negativity bias fueled by media. It provides a data-driven toolkit for seeing the world more clearly and recognizing progress.

With the data skills from Factfulness in hand, Day 5 is about adopting the right identity. Are you a 'soldier' who defends their beliefs, or a 'scout' who seeks the truth? This book provides the mindset and tools to be a truth-seeker, even when it's uncomfortable.

A huge part of being a Scout Mindset thinker is getting comfortable with being wrong. This book is a fascinating and reassuring exploration of why we mess up and why that's okay. It's a vital step in detaching your ego from your beliefs.

For the finale, we zoom out. After a week of analyzing details and biases, this book teaches you to see the big picture. It's a masterclass in understanding how complex systems work—from your body to the global economy—which is the highest level of critical thinking.