Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind | Gary Marcus

Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind | Gary Marcus | Tantalizing introduction to the ultimate in self-referential activities

books:

Kluge: The Haphaza...

	Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind Gary Marcus Houghton Mifflin Co, 2008 - 224 pages average customer review:based on 50 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

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.

for more information click here

Logiocal Thinking Indeed!

The author of this book makes the case very well for his idea about the brain and how it works. The author's idea is the highly structured and logical mind that some may think the brain to be is not really how the brain works.

If the brain were a computer, the data within it would resemble 'spaghetti' code. The brain finds similarities between unlikely things through unlikely and not very logical thinking. The unreliable memory portion of the brain does not actually remember factual data but creates its own tapestry of memory that many times reflects more of our prejudices than actual facts.

The author relates how the primitive part of our brain and the other more 'modern' parts of the brain have all been thrown together to create an organ that is full of emotions and thoughts that were self preserving eons ago, but that now in the modern world create conflict.

The book tells of the patchwork quilt that is our brain, and the most unlikely methods it uses to learn, reach conclusions, and guide us through life. The book tells it like it is, warts and all, with our brains. What struck me most was all that has been accomplished by humans and their brains, and how little we still know how they work.

A great book that more than anything relates the wonder and mystery of our brain and how that brain functions as much more than a control room for our bodies, but as a mind too. Recommended!

for more information click here

Tantalizing introduction to the ultimate in self-referential activities

This book is a tantalizing introduction to that most self-referential of all activities -- considering the construction of one's own brain.

Author Gary Marcus explains early and clearly his belief in evolution over intelligent design. He then spends the remainder of the book 'proving' his thesis -- that if an omniscient creator had formed the brain, s/he would have done a much better job than the "grew like Topsy" contraption we actually have.

Being unfamiliar with many of the facts he presents and the studies he mentions, I found the information interesting and easily digestible. Certain chapters were more intriguing and accessible than others: the chapter on language and linguistics made me fall asleep while the chapters on the fact that we naturally prefer the familiar/default option and the role of the value of quick decision-making for survival which focuses on immediate gratification over deliberative choices were fascinating.

I wish more details or discussion had been given in this slim volume on issues such as homosexuality and non-procreative sex in general (along with behaviors such as drug use and other risk-taking behaviors) that occur naturally but which do not fall within the evolutionary-deterministic boundaries of procreation and survival.

As a layperson with a basic but no doubt outdated familiarity with the human brain, I found the book a relatively easy read, but one which required attention (in other words, I had to force that primitive part of my brain focused on immediate pleasure to turn away from American Idol and actually engage with the book).

for more information click here

A confession