Descartes' Baby
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More About the Author
Product Description
The Times
‘entertaining psychological insights, Bloom’s underlying philosophical aims are profound’
Mil Millington, The Observer
‘manages to lift some weighty concepts with a lightness of touch. It’s genuinely thoughtful and thought-provoking’
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Engaging and funny cognitive scientist Paul Bloom's second book is a fascinating read. In it, he argues that we are wired to view the world as containing both bodies and souls. Bloom argues convincingly that it is for this reason, that even when the idea of psychophysical dualism clashes with our intellectual understanding of bodies and souls, we still maintain vestiges of a belief in the immaterial soul. His discussions of a huge range of fascinating issues make this book a must-read.
Descartes' Baby is incredibly fun to read, and is smattered with bits of humor and amusing anecdotes about real children and adults. Indeed, one of the most humorous moments in this lively book is Bloom's account of a neuroscientist colleague's culinarily-motivated search for animals without a certain neural structure, because, he reasoned, animals without this certain structure surely didn't have consciousness and therefore we safe to eat.
Another strength of the book is Bloom's treatment of disgust. His view is both interesting and nuanced and falls naturally from his argument that we are intuitive dualists at heart. Other high points are his discussion of art and forgery, and his quite funny discussion of humor.
It's not often that I read nonfiction. Normally I find it either too pedantic or too technical and narrow in scope to appeal to an outsider. One of the tremendous strengths of this book is that someone without training in developmental psychology or philosophy can follow it with ease, while still finding it intellectually satisfying.
This book is truly a gem -- both entertaining and important. It's a must-read for anyone who has ever wondered about human nature.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a brilliant account of how children naturally develop a divided view of the world, with minds or souls or spirits leading a separate life from bodies. Bloom describes many fascinating experiments, some of them ingeniously showing what infants think even before they can talk. It is all presented and discussed clearly with minimal resort to technical terms. My only quarrel - a small one - is with the title. Descartes invented a very unnatural dualism, which forbids spirits from interfering in any way with physical things. Children believe all too easily in witchcraft and magic and all kinds of hocus pocus, and many of them grow up into adults who imagine that disease and disaster are God's punishment for the sins of the people.
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Engaging and funny cognitive scientist Paul Bloom's second book is fascinating. In it, he argues that we are wired to view the world as containing both bodies and souls. Bloom argues convincingly that it is for this reason, that even when the idea of psychophysical dualism clashes with our intellectual understanding of bodies and souls, we still maintain vestiges of a belief in the immaterial soul. His discussions of a huge range of fascinating issues make this book a must-read.
Descartes' Baby is not just informative, but is smattered with bits of humor and amusing anecdotes about real children and adults. Indeed, one of the most humorous moments in this lively book is Bloom's account of a neuroscientist colleague's culinarily-motivated search for animals without a certain neural structure, because, he reasoned, animals without this certain structure surely didn't have consciousness and therefore we safe to eat.
Another strength of the book is Bloom's treatment of disgust. His view is both interesting and nuanced and falls naturally from his argument that we are intuitive dualists at heart. Other high points are his discussion of art and forgery, and his quite funny discussion of humor.
It's not often that I read nonfiction. Normally I find it either too pedantic or too technical and narrow in scope to appeal to an outsider. One of the tremendous strengths of this book is that someone without training in developmental psychology or philosophy can follow it with ease, while still finding it intellectually satisfying.
This book is truly a gem -- both entertaining and important. It's a must-read for anyone who has ever wondered about human nature.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Is growing up
The idea of an immaterial soul somehow connected to our physical bodies is hard to resist, and not just because it lies at the heart of many religions or because of great thinkers... Read more
Published on 18 May 2009 by Sphex
Easy to read
This book is generally easy and entertaining to read.
Although I am not sure how scientific the scientific tests are as quoted in the book, the pool of samples seem to... Read more
Although I am not sure how scientific the scientific tests are as quoted in the book, the pool of samples seem to... Read more
Published on 22 Jun 2007 by s
Inaccurate and imprecise
This is one of those books that packs it pages with utterly unnecessary waffle and all 240 pages could be summed up in a page or two. Read more
Published on 6 Aug 2004 by C. POWELL
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