Book Launch & Room Rater

This has been a relatively busy time for me as my new book, The Uses of Delusion: Why It’s Not Always Ration to Be Rational, has rolled out. I have been fortunate enough to have appeared on several podcasts and to have given some talks, all of which have been recorded and placed on YouTube. If you are not already tired of hearing me talk about the book, you may enjoy these. I can say that I have gone to the effort to give different talks for different audiences, so there should be a minimum of overlap.


In early June I went down to Bethesda, Maryland to give an in-person talk to the National Capital Area Skeptics. It was great to meet this group and hang out in Bethesda. The talk was recorded, and there was a lengthy and quite interesting question-and-answer session. You can find the YouTube video here.


One of the most raucous and fun book conversations so far was with Daniel J. Glenn of the Fascinating Nouns podcast. Daniel is a hilarious and smart interviewer, and we had great fun. The YouTube video can be seen here.


My most recent recording was for Andrew Gold’s UK podcast On The Edge. Andrew is a very smart chap, and this conversation was a great pleasure. He came up with several additional examples of the kinds of behavior I talk about in the book, and we discussed cyborg tennis players and our thoughts on Bernie Sanders, among many other things. I really enjoyed this one, which can be found here.

I am tremendously grateful to all the podcasters and to the National Capital Area Skeptics for inviting me to speak. After working so long in private to write a book, it is a great pleasure to finally go out into the world and discuss it with interested readers. Luckily, I am not done. I have several other podcasts and talks scheduled.


Finally, June 21, 2022, was a very special day for me because I achieved an important life goal. The famous Room Rater Twitter account upgraded my rating to a perfect 10/10. I went to substantial effort to improve my book setup along the lines they suggested in my previous rating, and all the work paid off. I have updated my CV to reflect my new 10/10 status. Such a treat.


That’s all for now. Happy summer to you all.

SV