How the Mind Works"A model of scientific writing: erudite, witty, and clear." —New York Review of Books In this Pulitzer Prize finalist and national 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 edition of Pinker's bold and buoyant classic is updated with a new foreword by the author. |
From inside the book
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... baby neurons must begin to function, and their firing pattern carries information downstream about their pinpoint connections. This isn't “experience,” as it all can take place in the pitch-black womb, sometimes before the rods and ...
... baby theory, but Profet synthesized hundreds of studies, done independently of each other and of her hypothesis, that support it. She meticulously documented that (1) plant toxins in dosages that adults tolerate can cause birth defects ...
... babies with birth defects. The fit between how a baby-making system in a natural ecosystem ought to work and how the feelings of modern women do work is impressive, and gives a measure of confidence that Profet's hypothesis is correct ...
... . Whether or not you are persuaded by the arguments so far, I hope they have provoked your thoughts and made you curious about the explanations to come. 2 THINKING MACHINES L ike many baby boomers, I was 58 HOW THE MIND WORKS.
Steven Pinker. 2. THINKING. MACHINES. L. ike many baby boomers, I was first exposed to problems in philosophy by traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind, taking a journey into a wondrous land ...