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Foolproof: Why We Fall for Misinformation and How to Build Immunity
By Sander van der Linden
Winner of British Psychological Society Best Book Prize (Popular Science) 2023
Nature’s Top 10 Books of 2023
A Financial Times Book of the Year 2023
A Waterstones Book of the Year for Politics 2023
One of the world’s top experts on fighting misinformation reveals the psychology behind its power – and how we can protect ourselves.
From fake news to conspiracy theories, from pandemics to politics, misinformation may be the defining problem of our era. Like a virus, misinformation infects our minds – altering our beliefs and replicating at astonishing rates. Once the virus takes hold, our primary strategies of fact-checking and debunking are an insufficient cure.
In Foolproof Sander van der Linden describes how to inoculate yourself and others against the spread of misinformation, discern fact from fiction and push back against methods of mass persuasion.
Everyone is susceptible to fake news. There are polarising narratives in society, conspiracy theories are rife, fake experts dole out misleading advice and accuracy is often lost in favour of sensationalist headlines. So how and why does misinformation spread if we’re all aware of its existence? And, more importantly, what can we do about it?
Sander van der Linden takes us through the psychology of conspiratorial thinking and equips us with the eleven antigens needed to help stop the spread of misinformation once and for all.
'Authoritative' Financial Times -
'Encouraging' The Times -
”'A fascinating case for counteracting the misinformation virus through psychological inoculation” - Observer
”'Foolproof proves an overview that is authoritative, comprehensive and chatty. You won’t find a better survey of what is now a vast interdisciplinary landscape and that alone is a great service.” - Tim Harford, FT
”'An insightful and forensic examination of why our brains entertain disinformation - and the remedies that can protect us all from its real-world harm. For everyone who messages me asking how they can speak to someone who has fallen victim to online conspiracies - this is the book for you!” - Marianna Spring
”'Powerfully analyses why everyone is susceptible, how falsehoods spread, and how to 'prebunk' misinformation and 'inoculate' ourselves and others against it” - Nature
”'A fascinating, in-depth investigation into the complex landscape of misinformation from someone who has spent his career trying to combat fake news. You will never look at your social media feeds in the same way again” - Angela Saini, author of Inferior and Superior
”'a must-read for those of us interested in resisting the spread of disinformation” - Psychology Today
”'This brilliant book vividly illuminates the challenges of countering misinformation, showing how human psychology can make us vulnerable to manipulation and conspiracy theories. Van der Linden’s analysis would be utterly depressing, were he not to provide a set of powerful evidence-based 'antigens' designed to protect us from false claims. They have never been more needed” - Professor David Spiegelhalter
”'Sander van der Linden is one of the world’s leading experts on combating misinformation, and Foolproof is the ultimate handbook for navigating - and fighting back against - the tsunami that threatens to drown us in bullshit” - Jay Van Bavel, author of The Power of Us