A review by mchester24
The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality by Amanda Montell

4.0

I had picked up and considered this book, both as an over thinker myself and an occasional listener of the author’s cultish podcast, but finally took the plunge thanks to a recommendation from the Tombolo Books ‘employee recommendation’ shelf. I’m reasonably happy I did— I love the mix of social science, psychology, and evolutionary explanations for why the world is the way it is and why we react to it the way we do. It’s easy to feel lost, a sense of doom about today/tomorrow, and not know what to do, but some of the lessons of this book are that by holding up that mirror to society and understanding the why behind some of our scary feelings and habits we can identify the best, most fulfilling path forward. 

I think in the end I’d love a more scientific deep dive on the topics than the anecdotes the author shared to relate and the modern analogies (eg talking extensive about Swifties to drive home the halo effect), but I recognize often these types of works are more prioritizing accessibility to a vast general audience, and so I think the book succeeds there in the end (but did this just leave me wanting a bit more)