This is an interview with Dr Dean Burnett conducted in March 2016, about his book The Idiot Brain — a great book for understanding the biological aspects as to why we are skeptical — and not so skeptical.

Dr Dean Burnett is a neuroscientist working as a tutor and lecturer based at Cardiff University’s Institute of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences. His Guardian Science blog, ‘Brain Flapping’, has been viewed over 13 million times in the last three years — and he is the author of The Idiot Brain: A Neuroscientist Explains What Your Head is Really Up To.

Unpredictable and entertaining, Burnett’s account gives us up-to-date research and the principles of neuroscience along the way. Looking at memory, intelligence, observation, social interaction and personality, Burnett explains why: memory is like a doting mother; tall people are more intelligent; criticism is more powerful than praise and much more.