The Human Mind: A Brief Tour of Everything We Know

Description

A wonderfully entertaining overview of all of psychology by a world expert Are you a human? Do you have a mind? Then this book is for you. Nothing is more familiar and yet less understood than the human mind. It defines the experience of being human, and yet its workings contain some of the deepest mysteries ever encountered. Written by one of the world's greatest teachers of psychology, The Human Mind provides a masterful and riveting guide to all that we have learned since modern science began probing those mysteries. How does a three-pound lump of grey-ish meat give rise to conscious experience? What is the function of emotions such as disgust, gratitude and shame? How do our biases affect us and how can we overcome them? How does the mind of a child differ from that of an adult? How does memory work? What causes mental illness? Are we rational? Are we all a little bit racist? What makes us kind? What makes us cruel? What makes us happy? Many of these questions now have answers; many others don't yet; many widely accepted theories are probably wrong. This book takes us to the very limits of what is known. It shines new light on all that you take most for granted- everything you think and feel, everything you say and do, everything that makes you you.

Paul Bloom is Professor of Psychology at Yale University. He is an internationally recognised expert on the psychology of language, social reasoning, morality and art. His previous books include Just Babies and How Pleasure Works, and he has written for numerous publications, including the New York Times, New Yorker and the Guardian. Bloom has won several awards for his research, articles and teaching, and his 'Introduction to Psychology' class was one of seven selected by Yale to be made available worldwide. His TED talks have been viewed 2.8 million times.

Paul Bloom can always be counted on to take your confident assumptions about humanity and turn them upside down -- Susan Cain Explains the deep and lasting insights from the science of the mind, sifting them from the superficial and the unreproducible. And he does it with the tough mind and gentle style that make all his books such a pleasure to read * Steven Pinker * Essential reading for anyone who has wondered why people do, feel, and think what they do. Paul Bloom is that rarest of experts - able to tell a story, make it practical, and yet faithfully capture the complexity and nuance of the latest research * Angela Duckworth, author of Grit * A perfect testament to why understanding the puzzles of the mind can be so damn fun * Laurie Santos, host of The Happiness Lab podcast * A masterful, brilliantly composed book that leaves readers wanting to learn more about what makes us human and why it matters * Professor Peter Salovey *