Guru Ratings
Terry Burnham
Meh.
Remember my ratings criteria. I’m not judging these gurus on “global” or moral values, but very specific criteria. Many of my favorite books would be rated “bad” by my criteria for self-help (probably, because they are not self-help books). My ratings don’t reflect how well an author met his own goals, but how well they met my criteria for useful, accurate self-help.
Mean Genes (2001)
Mean Genes is the closest thing I’ve found to a self-help book from evolutionary psychology. It’s full of “science-lite.” In fact, it’s so “lite” it’s practically non-science.
Burnham whizzes past contradictory evidence, serious argument, and clarifications. What he lays down is guesswork, and not much advice.
Actually read the footnotes, and the articles they cite, and you will start laughing.
Mean Markets and Lizard Brains (2005)
Burnham makes some good and bad points about markets. He uses evolutionary psycholgy to explain why we don’t make smart market choices.
But what of the subtitle? How to Profit from the New Science of Irrationality. Alas, there isn’t much science or how-to in this book. There is some irrationality.
What advice is there is covered a bit better in other books. For example, see Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes And How To Correct Them.