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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... women, and plans to have the marriage annulled as soon as he finds someone he wants to marry. Charlie is 17 years old. He lives at home with his parents and is in high school. David is 17 years old. He left home at 13, started a small ...
... women like to ask for directions? Would a woman in a foraging society not have come to harm when she approached a stranger? Second, even if the facts had been established, the stories try to explain one puzzling fact by taking for ...
... women become nauseated and avoid certain foods. Though their sickness is usually explained away as a side effect of hormones, there is no reason that hormones should induce nausea and food aversions rather than, say, hyperactivity ...
... women's sense of smell becomes hypersensitive during the window of pregnancy sickness and less sensitive than usual ... women with more severe pregnancy sickness are less likely to miscarry; (9) women with more severe pregnancy sickness ...
... women's “psychological” reactions to cultural expectations, rather than being treated as legitimate health issues. The foundation of individual rights is the assumption that people have wants and needs and are authorities on what those ...