Do you see the world in black and white? You may not think so. You may think your perceptions are nuanced, your opinions technicolored. But research psychologist Kevin Dutton, who’s spent the last two decades teaching at Oxford and Cambridge, says we are evolutionarily hardwired to think in black and white. We sort our experiences into reductive frames: Fight or flight. Us versus them. Right and wrong. These simple mental divisions may have served us in our ancestral environments, but Kevin says they’re too rigid to do us much good when we try to handle the complexities of modern life.
To learn more about Kevin’s work, visit www.drkevindutton.com.
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If you enjoyed this episode, check out our interview with Antonio Damasio.

Book Book #14: Are You a Binary Thinker in a Complex World?

The Next Big Idea is a weekly series of in-depth interviews with the world’s leading thinkers. Join our host, Rufus Griscom — along with our curators, Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant, Susan Cain, and Daniel Pink — for conversations that might just change the way you see the world. New episodes every Thursday.

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Around nine o’clock on a June night four years ago, Sebastian Junger, bestselling author of “The Perfect Storm” and co-director of the Oscar-nominated documentary “Restrepo,” lay on an operating table, dying. He survived, but this near-death experience inspired him to embark on a scientific, philosophical, and profoundly personal exploration of what happens after we die. His new book is “In My Time of Dying: How I Came Face to Face with the Idea of an Afterlife.”
Host: Caleb Bissinger
Guest: Sebastian Junger

AFTERLIFE: Sebastian Junger’s Journey to the Edge and Back

You may think the English language is static, solid, set in its ways. But the language of Shakespeare has changed quite a bit since the Bard's day. Some rules have been bent, others broken. Old words have faded into obscurity, while new slang has burst onto the scene. (Goodbye, crapulous. Hello, awesomesauce!) When faced with this linguistic upheaval, you have two choices, according to today's guest, Anne Curzan, dean of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts at the University of Michigan and author of "Says Who?: A Kinder, Funner Usage Guide for Everyone Who Cares About Words." You can turn into a grammando who ruthlessly corrects grammatical faux pas, staunchly defends "correct" usage, and rails against neologisms. Or you can embrace your inner wordie by becoming a linguistic gourmand who not only savors fresh vocabulary but celebrates lexical innovation as a reminder that our language is evolving, becoming more expansive, more inclusive, and perhaps more playful.

Host: Rufus Griscom
Guest: Anne Curzan
THE NEXT BIG IDEA CLUB
We all know that reading is the best investment we can make in ourselves, but figuring out what to read — well, that’s another matter. Which is why we started the Next Big Idea Club. We get the best new books (as chosen by our friends Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant, Susan Cain, and Daniel Pink) into the hands of curious people. Like you! Join us today at nextbigideaclub.com

FUNNER: How Language Evolves and Why It Matters

Erik Larson is probably the most successful popular historian working today. His books, which include “The Devil in the White City” and “The Splendid and the Vile,” have sold a staggering 12 million copies. His latest, “The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War,” debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times bestsellers list this week. It’s a gripping account of the five months between Abraham Lincoln’s election and the outbreak of the Civil War — a 163-year-old chapter in our history that Erik says is alarmingly relevant.
Host: Caleb Bissinger
Guest: Erik Larson

ABOUT THE NEXT BIG IDEA CLUB:
We all know that reading is the best investment we can make in ourselves. But figuring out what to read is easier said than done. That's why we started the Next Big Idea Club. We get the best new books — as chosen by our friends Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant, Susan Cain, and Daniel Pink — into the hands of curious people. Like you! Join us today at nextbigideaclub.com And use promo code PODCAST for a special discount.

DEMON OF UNREST: Why the Civil War Matters Today (with Erik Larson)

Scott Galloway is a podcaster, bestselling author, and professor of marketing at NYU. He's irreverent, cocky, brutally honest, and surprisingly humble. He's also wildly successful — and he doesn't care who knows it. In fact, he thinks more rich people should talk about their success. That's why he wrote his new book, "The Algebra of Wealth." "It's almost like a letter to myself when I was younger," he tells Rufus in today's episode, which was recorded live in New York City, "the mistakes I made, some of the things I did right, some of the things I did wrong." Tune in to learn how to build your savings muscle, why you should avoid stock picking, Scott's favorite ETF, whether it's better to be an entrepreneur or a company man, and more.

ALGEBRA OF WEALTH: Scott Galloway’s Formula for Financial Success

"The only things that are important in life," declared the French filmmaker Jean Renoir, "are the things you remember." But what do we remember and why? That's the subject of a new book, "Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory's Power to Hold on to What Matters," by pioneering neuroscientist Charan Ranganath. He joins us today to explain why you still know the lyrics to the song you loved in eighth grade but can't remember the name of your kid's eighth-grade teacher, how memory shapes your identity, and what you can do right now to improve your recall.

THE NEXT BIG IDEA CLUB
We all know that reading is the best investment we can make in ourselves, but figuring out what to read — well, that’s another matter. Which is why we started the Next Big Idea Club. We get the best new books (as chosen by our friends Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant, Susan Cain, and Daniel Pink) into the hands of curious people. Like you! Join us today at nextbigideaclub.com

Book Book #14: Are You a Binary Thinker in a Complex World?

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