VIRTUAL: Notes on Modern Irrationality with Bestselling Author Amanda Montell

Join us online as we chat with the New York Times bestselling author, Amanda Montell about her newest book, The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality. 

In a delicious blend of cultural criticism and personal narrative that explores our cognitive biases and the power, disadvantages, and highlights of magical thinking, Montell now turns her eye to the inner workings of the human mind and its biases in her most personal and electrifying work yet.

“Magical thinking” can be broadly defined as the belief that one’s internal thoughts can affect unrelated events in the external world: think of the conviction that one can manifest their way out of poverty, stave off cancer with positive vibes, thwart the apocalypse by learning to can their own peaches, or transform an unhealthy relationship to a glorious one with loyalty alone. In all its forms, magical thinking works in service of restoring agency amid chaos, but in The Age of Magical Overthinking, Montell argues that in the modern information age, our brain’s coping mechanisms have been overloaded, and our irrationality turned up to an eleven.

About the Author/Presenter:  Amanda Montell is a writer and linguist from Baltimore. She's also the author of the acclaimed books Wordslut and Cultish. Along with hosting the podcast Sounds Like a Cult, her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, and more. She lives in LA with her partner, plants, and pets. Find her on Instagram @Amanda_Montell.

Please visit https://libraryc.org/midlib to see all our upcoming virtual author events.