Scott shares and comments on favorite rationalist poetry by Pope, Omar Khayyam, Piet Hein and Byron to show that poetry and rationality have long been allies.

Scott surveys research on priming, including studies showing it can sway political judgments and votes, and suggests deciding important matters in a neutral environment.

Scott proposes testing untestable humanities claims by mixing one sincere argument with several deliberately fabricated ones, inspired by the Ern Malley poetry hoax, and seeing whether experts can tell them apart.

Scott uses Littledale's satire proving Max Muller was a solar myth to show how comparative methods can prove anything, and asks how to tell true correspondences from false ones.

Scott argues that rationalists should test their objections against 'the least convenient possible world,' where convenient excuses are removed, in order to find their true reasons and avoid dodging hard questions.