How the Mind Works
Written by Steven Pinker
Narrated by Mel Foster
3/5
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About this audiobook
In this delightful, acclaimed bestseller, one of the world's leading cognitive scientists tackles the workings of the human mind. What makes us rational-and why are we so often irrational? How do we see in three dimensions? What makes us happy, afraid, angry, disgusted, or sexually aroused? Why do we fall in love? And how do we grapple with the imponderables of morality, religion, and consciousness? How the Mind Works synthesizes the most satisfying explanations of our mental life from cognitive science, evolutionary biology, and other fields to explain what the mind is, how it evolved, and how it allows us to see, think, feel, laugh, interact, enjoy the arts, and contemplate the mysteries of life. This new edition of Pinker's bold and buoyant classic is updated with a new foreword by the author.
"Undeniably brilliant." -Newsday
"Big, brash, and a lot of fun." -Time
"Hugely entertaining…always sparkling and provoking." -Wall Street Journal
"Witty popular science that you enjoy reading for the writing as well as for the science." -New York Times Book Review
Steven Pinker
One of Time magazine's "100 Most Influential People in the World Today," Steven Pinker is the author of seven books, including How the Mind Works and The Blank Slate—both Pulitzer Prize finalists and winners of the William James Book Award. He is an award-winning researcher and teacher, and a frequent contributor to Time and the New York Times.
Reviews for How the Mind Works
641 ratings21 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Very enlightening book.I. have read it twice,I am reading it a third time.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I like books that make me think. that tell me new things. that make me do connections i hadn't done. got all these wonderful sensations from this book.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5How the Mind Works is my third Pinker and like his previous books this is witty, well written, insightful, and engaging. However I found this book to be a bit too technical for what I wanted to understand about the field of neuroscience and psychology, especially the chapter on visual systems. Pinker gets into every detail about the computational theory of the mind and really goes to great lengths to make his case. I also found his explanations of evolutionary biology to be helpful to my own understanding of the field. If you're looking for a broader read that applies this understanding to psychology, sociology, and philosophy I'd suggest reading The Blank Slate.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A thoroughly readable and interesting book about the many aspects of the mind, this was a joy to read. Enlightening as well in a good way that provided endless insights into the nature the human mind.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Very dated. Published 1997. Only listened to part of it.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Very redundant and quite boring.
Truly disappointed (Not fulfilling my mediocre expectations)