Mental immunity : infectious ideas, mind parasites, and the search for a better way to think / Andy Norman ; with a foreword by Steven Pinker.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Foreword / by Steven Pinker -- Introduction: Tree of life, seeds of death -- Beyond critical thinking : why existing approaches are failing us -- The cognitive immunology toolbox : naming the problem -- The widening gyre : why mental immune systems collapse -- Six immune-disruptive ideas : ... and their antidotes -- Fighting monsters : ... without becoming one yourself -- The ethics of faith : what is responsible belief? -- Thought police need not apply : how (not) to regulate belief -- Reason's fulcrum : the peculiar magic of reasons -- Reason unhinged : how thinking becomes ideological -- Mind upgrade : can we update the brain's operating system? -- Seductive misconceptions : how rationalism lost its way -- The mind vaccine : rethinking reason's requirements -- Conclusion. Propagating enlightenment : how to bend the arc of history.

"Philosopher Andy Norman dives into the world of mind-parasites, ideas that cause destructive thinking and extremism, and describes how to inoculate your mind to keep it safe from bad ideas"--