Change your way of thinking to help you better navigate real life

Have you ever looked at your life and said, “How do I fix this mess?” We've all seen books that claim they have the answers and that those answers are “backed by science.” But what does that even mean? Facing limited time and high stakes, how do we know which advice to believe?

In Think Like a Scientist, research methodologist Jennifer Steele harnesses lessons from teaching scientific methods to skeptics and applies them to everyday life. With vivid personal stories, she shows how to unpack research evidence in order to handle conflicting medical advice, learn hard skills, manage disease risk, decide on fulfilling colleges and careers, find healthy love, save for the future, and navigate messy emotions.

Scientific thinking, Steele argues, is uncommon in everyday life not because it's rigid or narrow but because most of us simply weren't taught how to use it. Still, science offers a powerful toolkit for managing uncertainty and making peace with past mistakes. Blending scientific principles with practical wisdom, Think Like a Scientist provides strategies each of us can use to gain an edge in figuring out our lives.

Jennifer Steele is a professor at the Linda A. and H. Kent Baker School of Education at American University. She has taught science-based decision making to policymakers, worked as a policy researcher at the RAND Corporation, and served as a fellow at the Madrid Institute for Advanced Study.

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