Matt Haig's 'Midnight Train' reminds us to slow down, forgive, and let go ⁠3%

By Jackie Harris Sara Plourde Olivia Comolli

7/30/2026, 7:31:06 AM

BS Summary: This article contains 7 faulty reasoning types, including Framing Effect, Indoctrination, and Confirmation Bias, with Attempt to Sell a Product or Service as the most egregious example at 35% saturation with 56 hits. Analysis detected 216 faulty-reasoning hits from 160 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 8.4% and a BS Rank of ⁠3% (28,469 of 29,174 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 97.60% of the article peer group.

In June of 2026, NHPR’s Jackie Harris spoke at length with award winning novelist Matt Haig about The Midnight Train, the sister novel to his The Midnight Library. 
The Midnight Train gently reminds us of life lessons we already know, but too often forget: to slow down, to be present, to forgive, to let go. 
Hear Writers on a New England Stage Saturdays at 3 p.m. on NHPR Books, or download each conversation wherever you get your podcasts. 
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music 
This conversation was recorded before a live audience at the Music Hall Lounge in Portsmouth on June 1, 2026. 
Writers on a New England Stage is a partnership between NHPR and The Music Hall in Portsmouth. 
This program is part of NHPR Books series which airs Saturdays at 3 p.m. along with recorded conversations from Authors on Main and Check This Out. 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 16.9%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 2.0%Confirmation Bias16.9%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.3%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 2.4%Availability Heuristic0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.7%Representativeness Heuristic0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.2%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.8%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 25.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 3.5%Framing Effect25.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.8%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.6%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.3%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 1.8%Optimism Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.4%Pessimism Bias0.0%This article: 8.1%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 4.2%Negativity Bias8.1%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 1.4%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.2%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.0%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 1.2%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.4%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 1.4%Halo Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.0%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.1%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.7%Recency Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.1%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.0%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.0%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.2%Straw Man0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 2.2%Appeal to Authority0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.7%False Dilemma0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.1%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.3%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 16.9%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 2.3%Hasty Generalization16.9%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.2%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.0%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 8.1%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 1.9%Appeal to Emotion8.1%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.6%Begging the Question0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.8%Post Hoc (False Cause)0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.0%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.2%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.1%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.1%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 1.0%Anecdotal0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.0%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.9%Ambiguity (Equivocation)0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.1%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.0%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.0%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 1.1%Unattributed Quote0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.3%Quote-first Misdirection0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.9%Biased Writer Voice0.0%This article: 25.0%Jackie Harris: 8.4%New Hampshire Public Radio: 1.0%Indoctrination25.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.4%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.1%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 35.0%Jackie Harris: 0.0%New Hampshire Public Radio: 0.5%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…35.0%

160 words analyzed.

Speakers

2speakers41%attributed speech94writer words
Selected voice

NHPR Books

100%flagged-word coverage
49 attributed words74% of attributed speech50% writer coverage
0%50.0%100.0%Attempt to Sell a Product +92.6 ptsWriter: 7.4%NHPR Books: 100.0%100.0%Indoctrination-42.6 ptsWriter: 42.6%NHPR Books: 0.0%0.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.