The Pulitzer Prize finalist and national bestseller How the Mind Works is a fascinating, provocative work exploring the mysteries of human thought and behavior. How do we see in three dimensions? How do we remember names and faces? How is it, indeed, that we ponder the nature of our own consciousness? Why do we fall in love? In this bold, extraordinary book, Pinker synthesizes the best of cognitive science and evolutionary biology to explain what the mind is, how it has evolved, and, ultimately, how it works. This edition includes a new afterword that explores the impact of the book and its relevance today.
How the Mind Works (Penguin Press Science)
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Why do fools fall in love? Why does a man's annual salary, on average, increase $600 with each inch of his height? When a crack dealer guns down a rival, how is he just like Alexander Hamilton, whose face is on the ten-dollar bill? How do optical illusions function as windows on the human soul? Cheerful, cheeky, occasionally outrageous MIT psychologist Steven Pinker answers all of the above and more in his marvellously fun, awesomely informative survey of modern brain science. Pinker argues that a combination of Darwin's theories and some canny computer programs are the key to understanding ourselves--but he also throws in apt references to Star Trek, Star Wars, The Far Side, history, literature, W.C. Fields, Mozart, Marilyn Monroe, surrealism, experimental psychology and Moulay Ismail the Bloodthirsty and his 888 children. If How the Mind Works were a rock show, tickets would be scalped for $100. This book deserved its spot at the top of the bestseller lists. It belongs on a short shelf alongside such classics as Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life, by Daniel C. Dennett, and The Moral Animal: Why We Are the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology, by Robert Wright. Pinker's startling ideas pop out as dramatically as those hidden pictures in a Magic Eye 3D stereogram poster, which he also explains in brilliantly lucid prose.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Big, brash, and a lot of fun.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
38 of 40 people found the following review helpful
By Mr. Stuart Robert Harris
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
The two leitmotifs of this stimulating book are "the computational theory of mind" and the theory that the mind is an array of "mental organs" that have evolved through natural selection. Kind of like Babbage and Turing meet Darwin and Dawkins. Pinker pulls together material from many sources to illustrate these theories and weaves them together into a compelling overview of the mind.
The computational bits left me feeling out of my depth at several points, but also feeling reassured that this wasn't science lite. And while the evolutionary bits were less challenging - and easier to read - they offered more than enough food for thought.
Apparently some people find the computation plus evolution theory controversial. Others find the ideas old hat. And Pinker himself seems to rub plenty of people up the wrong way for various reasons. Myself, I find the arguments fresh and convincing, and Pinker very enjoyable to read. He covers an awful lot of ground with great gusto, he packs the detail in and makes his points with wry humour.
A book to read once to get the gist and a second time to get the detail.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Like his previous book The Language Instinct, How the Mind Works is popular science at its best: clear, witty, and boldly committed to a specific position within the field, it makes the state of the art in the cognitive neurosciences available to the general public. How the Mind Works presents the most forcefully argued theory of the mind, its origins, and structure that I know of. Highly recommended!
52 of 57 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Steven Pinker is Professor of Psychology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and author of the renowned books, 'The language instinct' (Penguin, 1995) and 'Words and rules: the ingredients of language' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2000). In this book, described by one reviewer as 'the best book ever written on the human mind', he puts forward a general theory about how and why the human mind works the way it does. Yet it is not a ponderous book; it is beautifully written and full of jokes and stories.
Pinker marries Darwin's theory of evolution to the latest developments in neuroscience and computation. He shows in detail how the process of natural selection shaped our entire neurological networks; how the struggle for survival selects from among our genes those most fit to flourish in our environment. Nature has produced in us bodies, brains and minds attuned to coping intelligently with whatever our environment demands. Housed in our bodies, our minds structure neural networks into adaptive programmes for handling our perceptions. Pinker concludes, "The mind is a system of organs of computation, designed by natural selection to solve the kinds of problems our ancestors faced in their foraging way of life."
Our beliefs and desires are information, allowing us to create meaning. "Beliefs are inscriptions in memory, desires are goal inscriptions, thinking is computation, perceptions are inscriptions triggered by sensors, trying is executing operations triggered by a goal." Pinker writes that the mind has a 'design stance' for dealing with artefacts, a 'physical stance' for dealing with objects, and an 'intentional stance' for dealing with people.
... Read more ›4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By G. Hunt
Format:Paperback
How anyone seriously interested in the subject matter of this book can only give it one star has me stumped. It is a fantastic introduction to psychology.
The book is brilliant on two levels: the content, as Pinker gives a blow-by-blow account of how our minds function (or at least our best guess), and the style in which it is written. There are some very complex ideas here and yet Pinker takes pity on the reader and makes his writing accessible, with the occasional joke thrown in. As a regular reader of turgid tomes on linguistics, I appreciated this - I particularly liked the joke on p549 about double affirmatives, but maybe that's an acquired taste. (Search for "relish" in the text if you think it'll tickle your fancy.)
The jokes are good, but the content is even better: the computational theory of mind, how the human mind evolved, the psychology of vision, how we reason about the world, our emotions, family relationships and, er, the meaning of life. Pinker discusses all of these lucidly, and although most of the ideas are drawn from the works of others, Pinker's ability to synthesise these and present them together coherently is incredibly impressive.
I've read the views of other philosophers and psychologists (Dennett, Blackmore...) on the nature of the human mind with dismay: the self and consciousness are illusions, we are all basically zombies, etc., etc. I was beginning to think I was just a stick-in-the-mud who was unable to face up to reality. Pinker has come to my rescue - he sticks his neck out and when I read the words "I am as certain that I am sentient as I am certain of anything", I nearly stood up and cheered. But, hey, that's just me.
They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I suppose the same goes for book reviews.... Read more ›
The book is brilliant on two levels: the content, as Pinker gives a blow-by-blow account of how our minds function (or at least our best guess), and the style in which it is written. There are some very complex ideas here and yet Pinker takes pity on the reader and makes his writing accessible, with the occasional joke thrown in. As a regular reader of turgid tomes on linguistics, I appreciated this - I particularly liked the joke on p549 about double affirmatives, but maybe that's an acquired taste. (Search for "relish" in the text if you think it'll tickle your fancy.)
The jokes are good, but the content is even better: the computational theory of mind, how the human mind evolved, the psychology of vision, how we reason about the world, our emotions, family relationships and, er, the meaning of life. Pinker discusses all of these lucidly, and although most of the ideas are drawn from the works of others, Pinker's ability to synthesise these and present them together coherently is incredibly impressive.
I've read the views of other philosophers and psychologists (Dennett, Blackmore...) on the nature of the human mind with dismay: the self and consciousness are illusions, we are all basically zombies, etc., etc. I was beginning to think I was just a stick-in-the-mud who was unable to face up to reality. Pinker has come to my rescue - he sticks his neck out and when I read the words "I am as certain that I am sentient as I am certain of anything", I nearly stood up and cheered. But, hey, that's just me.
They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I suppose the same goes for book reviews.... Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Intriguing wizardry!
This is a must read for anyone interested in the human brain. Not only does it enlighten the reader, it wll leave you wanting to understand the brain more and more never ceases to... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Sumayya Patel
4.0 out of 5 stars
GG
Twas' more of a gift really ...Can't say as of yet. Why do I need to say so much stuff?
Published 3 months ago by Bogdan Liviu Alexandru
5.0 out of 5 stars
Painting The Mind
'How The Mind Works' is the best book I have read on the subject, notwithstanding that the title itself is very inaccurate. Read more
Published 4 months ago by T. T. Rogers
5.0 out of 5 stars
Genius!
This is by far one of the most profound books I have read in a long time. It provides a fine introduction to the computational theory of mind and its relation to evolutionary... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Deniz Ates
5.0 out of 5 stars
Eye eye!
Very good book and it contains my candidate for the merriest ribbing of Freud ever put to paper.
(Some of the minutiae of the section on visual cognition, I admit,... Read more
(Some of the minutiae of the section on visual cognition, I admit,... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Veeaicht
5.0 out of 5 stars
A good read
The title of the book is a bit tongue-in-cheek. It does not explain how the mind creates consciousness or feelings. Read more
Published 19 months ago by J. Penfold
5.0 out of 5 stars
Modern models of the human mind
We make innumerable asumptions about how our minds work, or should work. Closer examination of the evidence reveals just how wrong many of these assumptions are. Read more
Published on 17 Mar 2011 by anozama
2.0 out of 5 stars
Rather disappointing
If you are interested in how the brain/mind works, I would not start looking here. There book is a long ramble of opinion with little evidence. Read more
Published on 9 Feb 2011 by M. P. Bell
3.0 out of 5 stars
interesting theories
In Pinker's acclaimed how the mind works we are given a theory, one I find very persuasive, that the mind is a product of the brain. Read more
Published on 20 Jan 2011 by Den
1.0 out of 5 stars
Superficial and stimulating!
Steven Pinker is the author of the modular mind theory which is refuted by his colleagues. Further analogies with computer architecture are similarly presented here with his... Read more
Published on 13 Jan 2008 by T. Barnes
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