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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... better conclusion is that we cannot simply look at a patch of brain and read out the logic in the intricate pattern of connectivity that makes each part do its separate thing. In the same way that all books are physically just different ...
... better one is Noam Chomsky's “mental organ.” An organ of the body is a specialized structure tailored to carry out a particular function. But our organs do not come in a bag like chicken giblets; they are integrated into a complex whole ...
... better. Look at these claims. The behavior of a computer comes from a complex interaction between the processor and the input. When trying to understand how a car works, one cannot neglect the engine or the gasoline or the driver. All ...
... better than Y”: The usefulness of a computer depends on both the power of its processor and the expertise of the user. The speed of a car depends on the engine, the fuel, and the skill of the driver. All are important factors. The ...
... better suited to attain it than others. Unfortunately for those who think that the departments in a university reflect meaningful divisions of knowledge, it means that psychologists have to look outside psychology if they want to ...