I read this book several years ago when I was teaching a college leadership course. The main points have stayed with me and it has helped me to understand why so many follow the thinking of the more articulate, persuasive and often loud-mouths among us. Thinking, critical thinking that is, is really hard, and it is measurably physically stressful. Our pupils change, our blood pressure can increase along with many other symptoms of hard thinking. It is so much easier to just mentally hang out in the “classification” part of the cognitive pyramid model.

It is the over reliance on classifying that has led us to where we are now in American politics. I first noticed this many years ago with the popularity of a radio talk show host, Rush Limbaugh. After he moved from being a one station/one market talk show host to being a fabulously wealthy and very influential syndicated celebrity, his entertainment formula changed. He became more confrontational of opposing views and those who held them. He referred to his millions of American fans as Dittoheads and they took pride in being one. In my opinion, many stopped thinking for themselves and instead just started quoting whatever Rush had said that day on his program.

Of course, Rush’s approach also worked for others, particularly those who are referred to as being far-left or far-right politically speaking.

During much of this time period, it has been reported that book reading decreased by 40% in America. Sustained reading is not easy, especially in a world full of mental rabbit holes. I read books quite often, but sometimes I get anxious while doing so. I have to will myself to keep reading. The internet is so much easier to spend time on, yet it does not easily support reflection, analysis.

We have so many gurus to choose from now, so many willing to do the heavy mental lifting for us – for a price. That price has ended up being quite high.

I share all that as background for how I came about to write this next song, Cook It. I haven’t released it to be streamed yet, maybe in November, maybe not. For now, I have created a little video to go with it. It is fully embedded here so that you don’t end up going down a rabbit hole on Youtube!