The book How to Think is an unconventional essay that analyzes why we are not as good at thinking as we believe - but how restoring this lost art can save our lives from the chaos of the modern age.

American essayist Alan Jacobs argues that most of us do not want to think. Thinking is difficult. It can take us out of familiar, comfortable habits and complicate our relationships with like-minded friends. Also, thinking is slow, and that's a problem when our information consumption habits, mainly online, lead us to a social media echo where speed and partisanship outweigh accuracy and subtlety.

In this clever and witty book, Jacobs diagnoses the many forces that hinder thinking - forces that have worsened in the age of Twitter, such as "alternative facts" and our information overload. He also debunks the many myths we hold about what it means to think well. (For example: it is impossible to "think for yourself".)

Drawing from sources such as novelist Marilynne Robinson, basketball legend Wilt Chamberlain, British philosopher John Stuart Mill, and Christian theologian C.S. Lewis, Jacobs explores the "mechanical" elements of the cognitive process, offering hope that each of us can reclaim our mental life from the turmoil now called public discourse.

Ultimately, if we can learn to think together, we might be able to learn to live together.