Emotional Ignorance

Why do we have nightmares? Get hangry? Relive embarrassing memories? Find canned laughter so annoying - and fake news so effective? Emotions can be a pain. If only we were more rational, life would be a lot easier, wouldn't it? Dean Burnett certainly used to think so. And then, in April 2020, his father died of Covid-19. Suddenly, Dean was confronted with a host of powerful, unfamiliar and often unwelcome emotions. And so, he decided to put his feelings under the microscope - for science. In Emotional Ignorance, Dean takes us on his incredible journey of discovery. Along the way he reveals: - why we would ever follow our gut; - whether things really were better in the old days; - why it's so hard to stop doomscrolling; - whether women really are more emotional than men (spoiler: no). Combining expert analysis with powerful insights into the grieving process, the end result is a fascinating and endlessly entertaining account of the science underlying our emotional lives.