false 2652751 6 How the accidents of evolution created our quirky, imperfect minds-and what we can do about it. 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 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 cant buy happiness, why leaders often stick to bad decisions, and why a sentence like people people left left ties us into knots even though its only four words long. He also offers surprisingly effective ways to outwit our inner kluge for example, always consider alternative explanations, make contingency plans, and beware the vivid, personal anecdote. 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. 2677494 16 4 2008 Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind total:135|5:11|4:63|3:46|2:13|1:2| 135 473 379 49 4 11 false false Sun May 25 02:23:55 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 01 06:52:23 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Feb 01 14:27:34 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 01 14:27:49 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Oct 20 07:42:44 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 20 07:52:30 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 8 false false Sat Jul 25 18:38:31 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 25 18:42:24 -0700 2009 The Psychology of Judgment and Decision Making put into chapters and continuous prose. Not that I mean that as a bad thing – quite the opposite. The ideas in both books are terribly important to anyone with a brain, particularly anyone who finds that brain ...more...]]> 4 1 false false Sun Apr 27 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Apr 12 22:17:12 -0700 2008 Sun Apr 27 18:33:59 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Feb 13 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 03 09:58:13 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 13 16:00:17 -0800 2009 too short) and accessible introduction to the idea that the human mind is, well, not as perfect as we like to believe. While evolution does lead to supremely well-designed and efficient organisms and biological processes, it also leads to a lot of junk. Marcus uses the term...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 10 09:15:04 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 15 15:33:18 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 true false Fri May 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu May 21 10:34:20 -0700 2009 Fri May 22 22:18:31 -0700 2009
The premise is that the mind's faults are due to the brain's having been evolving in a stepwis...more...]]> 4 1 false false Fri Sep 18 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 02 17:13:13 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 14 00:08:38 -0700 2009
First of all, I learned a new word in reading "Kluge", and I have used that word in conversation already. And had to explain it. But that's hardly the point of this book.

The point, largely, is that the human brain, once so lauded (see the Bib...more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Nov 09 01:16:17 -0800 2008 Sun Nov 09 01:34:16 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Jul 16 18:31:59 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 16 19:14:52 -0700 2008 On Intelligence...more...]]> 2 0 false false Sun Jul 06 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jul 14 23:38:19 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 15 10:37:26 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Dec 19 16:43:59 -0800 2008 Fri Dec 19 16:50:13 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jul 27 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 25 05:08:07 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 27 05:11:18 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Mon Sep 07 23:42:40 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 28 02:57:52 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu May 07 16:11:16 -0700 2009 Thu May 07 16:13:34 -0700 2009

]]> 2 0 false false Sat Jan 03 14:09:07 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 03 14:13:23 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Sun Jul 20 20:06:06 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 20 20:13:08 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Mar 19 14:19:38 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 07 17:09:40 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Jan 03 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 19 14:50:53 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 19 14:52:15 -0800 2009