This Will Make You Smarter

The literary agent John Brockman, through his organisation Edge.org, sets leading thinkers a question every year. For this collection the question was which scientific concept would improve everybody's cognitive toolkit, and more than 150 scientists and thinkers answered. Contributors include Richard Dawkins, Brian Eno, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, Jaron Lanier, Matt Ridley, Clay Shirky, Craig Venter and David Brooks. Their answers range across philosophy, psychology, economics and other disciplines, and share one aim: to offer reliable ways of gaining knowledge about anything from human and corporate behaviour to the fate of the planet and the future of the universe.

Morgan Housel described it as a collection of short essays by brilliant people that lives up to its title.