On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not
by: Robert Burton
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You recognize when you know something for certain, right? You "know" the sky is blue, or that the traffic light had turned green, or where you were on the morning of September 11, 2001--you know these things, well, because you just do.
In On Being Certain, neurologist Robert Burton challenges the notions of how we think about what we know. He shows that the feeling of certainty we have when we "know" something comes from sources beyond our control and knowledge. In fact, certainty is a mental sensation, rather than evidence of fact. Because this "feeling of knowing" seems like confirmation of knowledge, we tend to think of it as a product of reason. But an increasing body of evidence suggests that feelings such as certainty stem from primitive areas of the brain, and are independent of active, conscious reflection and reasoning. The feeling of knowing happens to us; we cannot make it happen.
Bringing together cutting edge neuroscience, experimental data, and fascinating anecdotes, Robert Burton explores the inconsistent and sometimes paradoxical relationship between our thoughts and what we actually know. Provocative and groundbreaking, On Being Certain, will challenge what you know (or think you know) about the mind, knowledge, and reason.
You recognize when you know something for certain, right? You "know" the sky is blue, or that the traffic light had turned green, or where you were on the morning of September 11, 2001--you know these things, well, because you just do.
In On Being Certain, neurologist Robert Burton challenges the notions of how we think about what we know. He shows that the feeling of certainty we have when we "know" something comes from sources beyond our control and knowledge. In fact, certainty is a mental sensation, rather than evidence of fact. Because this "feeling of knowing" seems like confirmation of knowledge, we tend to think of it as a product of reason. But an increasing body of evidence suggests that feelings such as certainty stem from primitive areas of the brain, and are independent of active, conscious reflection and reasoning. The feeling of knowing happens to us; we cannot make it happen.
Bringing together cutting edge neuroscience, experimental data, and fascinating anecdotes, Robert Burton explores the inconsistent and sometimes paradoxical relationship between our thoughts and what we actually know. Provocative and groundbreaking, On Being Certain, will challenge what you know (or think you know) about the mind, knowledge, and reason.
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: 
- Good writing, interesting content
When I judge a non-fiction book, I look for three things:
Is it well-written? Yes, this is a very fluently written book.
Is the content interesting and well-supported? Yes, there are interesting ideas and (perhaps more importantly) the bringing together of ideas I'd read about elsewhere and examining the light and shadows they shed on one another.
And finally, does the book change the way I view the world in some substantial way? In this case, I'll have to ... Read More
Rating: 
- So - SoBiased in itself
This book has some good points about our perceptions and how we can misinterpret things and even defending them despite contrary information.All well and good for people to consider (or learn from a good course on critical thinking!)
The author seems to go out of his way to slam certain authors theories with little to back it up other than using certain elements of their work against them to try to prove his own points.Anyone can take a fragment of what someone else says and turn it against ... Read More
Rating: - A Profound and Engaging Read
Dr. Burton's book is one of the most extraordinary and valuable I'veread.The depth and breadth of commentary it has generated by other readers is testament that you cannot read this book without having strong reactions, both intellectual and emotional.
Dr. Burton, as alleged by other reviewers, neither "attacks science" nor argues that his is the last word on the neurobiology of certainty.Indeed, his postulation of a "hidden layer" (similar to Freud's "subconscious") and its machinations, ... Read More
Rating: - Mistaken beliefs
I always wondered why not only individuals but entire nations have beliefs that are wrong, immoral by most standards or simpply stupid (nazism, communism etc.). This book covers individual level of mistaken but deeply held beliefs. Interesting and helpful.
Rating: - Brilliant neurological analysis of current social problem
"It's not what ya don't know that causes most problems.It's what ya know for sure that just ain't so."Humorist and aphorist Josh Billings warned us a Century and-a-half ago about the danger of determined, intransigent certainty in human affairs.
With this critical book, neuroscientist and neurologist Dr. Burton has taken a bite into a most perplexing problem of why there is so much human conflict and intolerance in the world.Yet this book so tightly focuses on "certainty" without relating ... Read More
- Good writing, interesting contentWhen I judge a non-fiction book, I look for three things:
Is it well-written? Yes, this is a very fluently written book.
Is the content interesting and well-supported? Yes, there are interesting ideas and (perhaps more importantly) the bringing together of ideas I'd read about elsewhere and examining the light and shadows they shed on one another.
And finally, does the book change the way I view the world in some substantial way? In this case, I'll have to ... Read More
- So - SoBiased in itselfThis book has some good points about our perceptions and how we can misinterpret things and even defending them despite contrary information.All well and good for people to consider (or learn from a good course on critical thinking!)
The author seems to go out of his way to slam certain authors theories with little to back it up other than using certain elements of their work against them to try to prove his own points.Anyone can take a fragment of what someone else says and turn it against ... Read More
- A Profound and Engaging ReadDr. Burton's book is one of the most extraordinary and valuable I'veread.The depth and breadth of commentary it has generated by other readers is testament that you cannot read this book without having strong reactions, both intellectual and emotional.
Dr. Burton, as alleged by other reviewers, neither "attacks science" nor argues that his is the last word on the neurobiology of certainty.Indeed, his postulation of a "hidden layer" (similar to Freud's "subconscious") and its machinations, ... Read More
- Mistaken beliefsI always wondered why not only individuals but entire nations have beliefs that are wrong, immoral by most standards or simpply stupid (nazism, communism etc.). This book covers individual level of mistaken but deeply held beliefs. Interesting and helpful.
- Brilliant neurological analysis of current social problem"It's not what ya don't know that causes most problems.It's what ya know for sure that just ain't so."Humorist and aphorist Josh Billings warned us a Century and-a-half ago about the danger of determined, intransigent certainty in human affairs.
With this critical book, neuroscientist and neurologist Dr. Burton has taken a bite into a most perplexing problem of why there is so much human conflict and intolerance in the world.Yet this book so tightly focuses on "certainty" without relating ... Read More
