Peter and Michael discuss "Surrounded by Idiots," a book that dares to ask: Can the mystery of human relationships be unraveled by a workplace personality assessment?

Where to find us:

• Our Patreon
• Our merch!
• Peter's newsletter
• Peter's other podcast, 5-4
• Mike's other podcast, Maintenance Phase

Sources:

• Pioneers, Drivers, Integrators, and Guardians
• Creator of Lie Detector Test Dies; Lecturer and Author Produced Comic Strip
• One of Sweden's biggest scientific bluffs
• Pseudoscience and the Claim of Practical Utility: The Case of Thomas Erikson's Surrounded by Idiots
• Thomas Erikson accepts being called a pop psychology writer
• Four personality types may be neither robust nor exhaustive
• Spuriouser and spuriouser: The use of ipsative personality tests
• Reconsidering the use of personality tests in personnel selection contexts
• Using Personality Tests in Pre-Employment Screening
• Employment Tests and Selection Procedures
• The Cult of Personality Testing
• A history of the early days of personality testing in American industry: an obsession with adjustment
• Psychological Testing in Personnel Selection, Part II: The Refinement of Methods and Standards in Employee Selection
• Psychological Testing in Personnel Selection, Part III: The Resurgence of Personality Testing
• ACLU Files Discrimination Complaint Against CVS
• Target Corporation to Pay $2.8 Million to Resolve EEOC Discrimination Finding
• Personality Tests Are the Astrology of the Office
• The $2 Billion Question of Who You Are at Work

Thanks to Mindseye for our theme song!

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPod

In 1993, a desperate man stumbled into a remote village in the foothills of the Karakoram mountains. After the residents nursed him back to health, he placed his hands on the village elder's shoulders and made a sacred promise. "Somehow," he said, "I am going to get some private jet reimbursements out of this."

Warning: Contains spoilers for the 2016 film "Arrival."

Thanks to Ted Callahan for helping us fact-check this episode!

Where to find us:

• Our Patreon
• Our merch!
• Peter's newsletter
• Peter's other podcast, 5-4
• Mike's other podcast, Maintenance Phase

Sources:

• Three Cups of Deceit
• “60 Minutes” expose
• 3000 Cups of Deceit
• Books vs Bombs? Humanitarian development and the narrative of terror in Northern Pakistan
• Delusional States
• Can't Get There From Here
• Nobel Prize Nominee’s Charity Wins No Award for Accountability
• David Oliver Relin, Adventurous Journalist, Dies at 49
• What Mortenson Got Wrong
• Three Cups of Tea: The Pakistan and Afghan side
• 3 Lessons to Learn From Greg Mortenson
• Mortenson returns to Afghanistan
• The naive republic of aid: Grassroots exceptionalism in humanitarian memoir
• Religious School Enrollment in Pakistan: A Look at the Data
• If you build it, will they come?
• What Really Works to Improve Learning in Developing Countries?
• The madrassa scapegoat

Thanks to Mindseye for our theme song!

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPod

You know that book your friend recommended? The one that rigorously describes the science of trauma, de-stigmatizes abuse and promotes effective treatments? Well here’s the thing: It doesn't actually do that.

Thanks to Emi Nietfield, Keith Cox, Lisa Starr, Richard McNally, Kevin McGuire and everyone else who helped us research and fact-check this episode!

Where to find us:

• Our Patreon
• Our merch!
• Peter's newsletter
• Peter's other podcast, 5-4
• Mike's other podcast, Maintenance Phase

Sources:

• What the Most Famous Book About Trauma Gets Wrong
• Trauma: A Genealogy
• Remembering Trauma
• Advocates of Research-Supported Treatments for PTSD are Losing
• Tell Me Why It Hurts
• ‘The Body Keeps the Score’ offers uncertain science
• Your Brain Is Not an Onion With a Tiny Reptile Inside
• PTSD and complex PTSD: a review of reviews
• What Does It Mean When 38% Forget?
• Multiple Identity Enactments and Multiple Personality Disorder: A Sociocognitive Perspective
• The Brain Is Adaptive Not Triune

Thanks to Mindseye for our theme song!

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPod