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The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind
Houghton Mifflin
April 2008
On Sale: April 16, 2008
224 pages
ISBN: 0618879641
EAN: 9780618879649
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
Are we noble in reason? Perfect, in God's image? Far from
it, says New York University psychologist Gary Marcus. In
this lucid and revealing book, Marcus argues that the mind
is not an elegantly designed organ but rather a "kluge," a
clumsy, cobbled-together contraption. He unveils a
fundamentally new way of looking at the human mind -- think
duct tape, not supercomputer -- that sheds light on some of
the most mysterious aspects of human nature. Taking us on a tour of the fundamental areas of human
experience -- memory, belief, decision-making, language, and
happiness -- Marcus reveals the myriad ways our minds fall
short. He examines why people often vote against their own
interests, why money can't buy happiness, why leaders often
stick to bad decisions, and why a sentence like "people
people left left" ties us in knots even though it's only
four words long. Marcus also offers surprisingly effective ways to outwit our
inner kluge, for the betterment of ourselves and society.
Throughout, he shows how only evolution -- haphazard and
undirected -- could have produced the minds we humans have,
while making a brilliant case for the power and usefulness
of imperfection.
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