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255th out of 285 books
—
291 voters
How Pleasure Works: The New Science of Why We Like What We Like
by
Paul Bloom
Yale psychologist Paul Bloom presents a striking new vision of the pleasures of everyday life.
The thought of sex with a virgin is intensely arousing for many men. The average American spends over four hours a day watching television. Abstract art can sell for millions of dollars. Young children enjoy playing with imaginary friends and can be comforted by security blankets...more
The thought of sex with a virgin is intensely arousing for many men. The average American spends over four hours a day watching television. Abstract art can sell for millions of dollars. Young children enjoy playing with imaginary friends and can be comforted by security blankets...more
Hardcover, 280 pages
Published
June 14th 2010
by W. W. Norton & Company
(first published January 1st 2010)
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Jun 28, 2010
Richard
marked it as to-read
Recommended to Richard by:
NY Times
Shelves:
cognition,
non-fiction
Paul Bloom, author of How Pleasure Works: The New Science of Why We Like What We Like, wrote a fascinating essay for the New York Times Magazine entitled The Moral Life of Babies (with the adorably cute accompanying video, Can Babies Tell Right From Wrong?).
Although this book doesn't appear to related directly to the moral life of babies, if his quality of writing is as high then his treatment should be engrossing.
• • • • • • • • • •
Bloom's book is reviewed favorably in the N...more
Although this book doesn't appear to related directly to the moral life of babies, if his quality of writing is as high then his treatment should be engrossing.
• • • • • • • • • •
Bloom's book is reviewed favorably in the N...more
What could be more relaxing and interesting than a conversation with a learned friend about what pleasures us? Bloom doeosn't shrink from describing the more depraved pleasures humans claim to like, nor does he ignore the mundane and ordinary things that make our lives interesting and fulfilling. And at the end, he mentiones the BIG questions of transcendence and truth, possibility and destiny. But what struck me now, perhaps at this time in my tiny life, so constrained by circumstance and my ow...more
Having listened insatiably to Paul Bloom in his captivating Yale course to Introductory Psychology, when I tracked down his literature on Amazon, I had to buy this book. I do not regret the purchase whatsoever. The man writes with incredible lucidity and wit, and he conveys his points effectively until the end. 'How Pleasure Works' really made me think twice about why I get so much pleasure from certain activities, and, more importantly, why others get pleasure from things that I might personall...more
I have to start this review with a confession and an apology to the author. When the book arrived for review in 2010 (no, not a typo), I was totally fed up with books about different human emotions. We had been absolutely drenched with the things, many of them rather tedious. So I put it to one side and forgot about it. A few days ago I needed a book to read, had nothing else to hand and discovered I'd made a big mistake - because the book is brilliant. So my apologies to Paul Bloom: the only th...more
Art is something that gives most viewers pleasure, and why? That question is explored by Paul Bloom in a humorous but scientifically probing way. He makes the case that art, along with other things, have a bit of an essence to them. How we perceive that essence is how we determine our feelings toward a particular work of art. Bloom explains an experiment in which Joshua Bell, the virtuoso violinist, once played in a subway on his Stradivarius after performing at Boston's Symphony Hall. He only m...more
Bloom is an entertaining writer and in this book he promises to explain why we take pleasure in the things we take pleasure from. He does this by explaining his theory of essentialism: how we impart essences to things, whether we realize it or not. He offers good arguments and explanations to support his view, but ultimately the book seems lacking. He doesn't really provide anything more than his essentialist view of the world, restated in various contexts. And while it's possible his view may b...more
A fine book that made for great listening on a week of commutes to a workshop. It's one of a spate of recent tomes on cognitive neuroscience. I tend to enjoy these books (some others are Outliers, Predictably Irrational, and Herd), but I'm starting to feel like I'm just setting myself up for disappointment. In each of them, the author states a basic, completely intuitive thesis, and then spends the next several hundred pages beating it in to the dirt. I'm not sure what I expect at this point, bu...more
An unpleasant book about pleasure!
Publisher's Weekly said, "Bloom (Descartes' Baby), a psychology professor at Yale, explores pleasure from evolutionary and social perspectives, distancing himself from the subject's common association with the senses." The Preface mentions the influence of several of my favorite scientists, such as Steven Jay Gould and Steve Pinker, and I had high hopes for a good read.
In the first chapter, Bloom describes the theory of essentialism, on which he says he will ba...more
Publisher's Weekly said, "Bloom (Descartes' Baby), a psychology professor at Yale, explores pleasure from evolutionary and social perspectives, distancing himself from the subject's common association with the senses." The Preface mentions the influence of several of my favorite scientists, such as Steven Jay Gould and Steve Pinker, and I had high hopes for a good read.
In the first chapter, Bloom describes the theory of essentialism, on which he says he will ba...more
I had nothing against Paul Bloom's style for the durration of the book. In fact, I rather enjoyed his style and thought his simple language and format would be an adequate way of describing why we like what we like.
You can sum up Bloon's entire 200 page argument in about 2 sentences. "We like things when we feel there is an associated essential quality to their being, imparted from either and internal or external source. The extent of our likes vary across several categories, including food, sex...more
You can sum up Bloon's entire 200 page argument in about 2 sentences. "We like things when we feel there is an associated essential quality to their being, imparted from either and internal or external source. The extent of our likes vary across several categories, including food, sex...more
Jun 27, 2010
Taka
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
social-science,
japan_jul07-aug10
Misleading and Diffuse--
Paul Bloom, a developmental psychologist, argues convincingly in this eclectic book that we humans are "essentialists" by nature. In his own words, essentialism is a view that "things have an underlying reality or true nature that one cannot observe directly."
So we balk at the ideas of fake artworks, plastic surgery, drug-induced performance, and other phenomena that represent unautheticity.
The problem with this book is that it covers a wide range of topics from food, sex...more
Paul Bloom, a developmental psychologist, argues convincingly in this eclectic book that we humans are "essentialists" by nature. In his own words, essentialism is a view that "things have an underlying reality or true nature that one cannot observe directly."
So we balk at the ideas of fake artworks, plastic surgery, drug-induced performance, and other phenomena that represent unautheticity.
The problem with this book is that it covers a wide range of topics from food, sex...more
I have nothing against this book in particular - just the fact that I seem to be reading the same stuff over and over again under the guise of different titles-whether it is a book on happiness or how our brains work, or affection, or competition or any other host of things people try and research and explain--it often seems like the same things are being said over and over again. This book mainly is about how we find pleasure in things because of the essence we impart with objects, people, etc....more
Paul Bloom Nos Propone la Teoria del "Essentialism"o como puerta al entendimiento de los placeres tanto los mas Instintivos o animales como los que son derivados del intelecto y de la "crianza cultural". Me parecio muy Interesante el uso de esta teoria esencialista ya que realmente son las cualidades mas profundas lo que muchos buscamos para nuestro placer, en este caso nos habla sobre como ciertas personas suelen Gastar grandes sumas de dinero por objetos que supuestamente fueron utilizados por...more
This book sets up a theory for you (essentialism) and then puts a principle in place (that we like and derive pleasure from things because we perceive something "essential" about them) and expounds on it different ways: food, sex, collecting, whatever. The big problem with the book is that food, sex, collecting, whatever are humongous topics, each with their own "home theories" that are virtually ignored.
I felt this most acutely in the sex chapter, which was largely based around that fucking "p...more
I felt this most acutely in the sex chapter, which was largely based around that fucking "p...more
3 likes · like · see review
Fun fluff. I really hate to give this guy two stars for a decently written, well researched book. But for all the interesting anecdotes, experiments, and theories, the book doesn't begin to deliver what the title promises. In other words, the book promises to tell us why pleasure works, but the writer doesn't give us any concrete conclusions. He does suggest that we find pleasure with things and ideas that have an authentic, true "essence" - in other words, we have no tolerance for fakes. Each o...more
This book was fun to read, but I had a hard time with some of Bloom's arguments. It often seemed he came at a subject from limited perspectives, or didn't try to stray far beyond his box. For example, there was clearly not a lot of talking with women in preparation for this book. Bloom had some really interesting experiments with babies and toddlers, but I think he didn't actually try to think like a child -- at one point he says that children don't create art with the intention of gaining advan...more
This was an interesting book, drawing on much research, focused on trying to understand how we humans understand pleasure. Fundamentally, it posits that we're essentialists, having his tendency to associate an intangible psychological essence with objects and people - which is often associated with the history and providence of the object. However, I felt the book wasn't completely cohesive. While the author tried to push the essentialist notion into how we understand all sorts of different plea...more
Amazon:
Yale psychologist Paul Bloom presents a striking and thought-provoking new understanding of pleasure, desire, and value. The thought of sex with a virgin is intensely arousing for many men. The average American spends more than four hours a day watching television. Abstract art can sell for millions of dollars. People slow their cars to look at gory accidents, and go to movies that make them cry.
Pleasure is anything but straightforward. Our desires, attractions, and tastes take us beyond...more
Yale psychologist Paul Bloom presents a striking and thought-provoking new understanding of pleasure, desire, and value. The thought of sex with a virgin is intensely arousing for many men. The average American spends more than four hours a day watching television. Abstract art can sell for millions of dollars. People slow their cars to look at gory accidents, and go to movies that make them cry.
Pleasure is anything but straightforward. Our desires, attractions, and tastes take us beyond...more
This book is really neither about how pleasure works nor about the science of our likes and dislikes. Although the examples he describes often relate to pleasure and preferences, the book is at heart a collection of Bloom's thoughts on essentialism. Much like the second half of Bloom's previous book, Descartes' Baby, this book reads like the musing of a highly learned intellectual, but without a clear purpose. Meandering around his thought-space is quite interesting at times, but it is usually o...more
Boils down to the premise that pleasure is based on "essentialism", the essence of what something is based on its history, what we believe it to be, or what we're told it is, among other things. The book quotes a lot of studies, but usually only one for each premise/paragraph, so I'm not sure how much any of these studies can be relied upon. The writing is horribly clumsy and hard to follow, the points that are being made aren't made very well if at all, and there's a lot of rambling going on he...more
I was really excited to read this book, but am disappointed now that I have. The dots just don't seem like they were connected throughout the book. There were so many times while I was reading that I had to stop and think, "what is the point of this book? What is the topic I'm reading about?". Many of the chapters didn't draw clear links between the subject being discussed and the topic of pleasure. Even at the end of the book, I was unknowingly reading the last page and when I turned the page t...more
Bloom's book, like Malcolm Gladwell's, is best when it takes an interesting anecdote or observation and teases out the relevant science, drawing from contemporary research in psychology and cognitive science. Unlike other critiques (of both writers) I have no problem with this general formula, even as it sometimes skips an exhaustive scientific overview in favor of a more thematic, story-based tale. It is rather the execution of this approach that I found somewhat lacking. Bloom's central theme,...more
Aug 03, 2010
Tfindlay
marked it as to-read
I haven't read this book but from what I understand from looking at several reviews the author contends that what we value is the presumed essence of a thing. Much of the essence of a thing may involve the objects history. A sweater worn by George Clooney is more attractive than a brand new identical sweater (or George's sweater after it has been dry cleaned). Although I don't believe the author mentions this in the book it seems to me that the essence of a thing is not so much an inherent prope...more
*Pleasure runs deep*
Why do we enjoy what we enjoy? Why does a bottle of Perrier seem to taste so much better than tap water, and why does that $200 bottle of wine seem to blow Two Buck Chuck out of the water? In both of these cases, the nature of the liquids inside the containers is not what makes the difference, but it is our beliefs about their invisible essences that shape our preferences and determine our enjoyment levels. In the author's own words: "What matters most is not the world as it...more
Why do we enjoy what we enjoy? Why does a bottle of Perrier seem to taste so much better than tap water, and why does that $200 bottle of wine seem to blow Two Buck Chuck out of the water? In both of these cases, the nature of the liquids inside the containers is not what makes the difference, but it is our beliefs about their invisible essences that shape our preferences and determine our enjoyment levels. In the author's own words: "What matters most is not the world as it...more
It is confusing to me that a book about pleasure could end up being such a shallow and unsatifying read. Perhaps there is some meta-meaning there. Everything for Bloom circles back to essentialism – that our satisfaction with experiences and things are driven by an essential quality and value imparted by internal or external forces. Which – okay. So what?
Individual chapters explored universal pleasures like food, sex, and the more intellectual pleasures of things like art. The chapters were enga...more
Individual chapters explored universal pleasures like food, sex, and the more intellectual pleasures of things like art. The chapters were enga...more
Jan 14, 2011
Elizabeth
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Steven Pinker fans
Shelves:
adjusted-for-public
this is brand new and there is a lot of pressure on this in the library.
This book has favorable words on the cover by Steven Pinker, Daniel Levitin, Jonah Lehrer. I already don't really agree much with Pinker and now I have more reason to think that I just don't see the world the way these people do.
When someone says "pleasure" I look for nerves and molecules or at least brain A and P. None of that here. Lots of psychobiology and some evolutionary biology. I don't buy it. I don't think it is bas...more
This book has favorable words on the cover by Steven Pinker, Daniel Levitin, Jonah Lehrer. I already don't really agree much with Pinker and now I have more reason to think that I just don't see the world the way these people do.
When someone says "pleasure" I look for nerves and molecules or at least brain A and P. None of that here. Lots of psychobiology and some evolutionary biology. I don't buy it. I don't think it is bas...more
Lets be honest. This book touches on such eternally-fascinating topics as sex, cannibalism, and art forgeries. This makes it fascinating to read, and always entertaining. My main criticism of this book was that I wish Bloom had been an anthropologist, not a psychologist. While the experiments are interesting to listen to, I think the book would have been even better with a little bit of a cultural survey, in exchange for some experiments that only vaguely prove Bloom's point.
This a book to stimulate curiosity, not to answer it. Bloom presents several theories on how pleasure works, most of which revolve around the idea that, as humans, we believe that everything has an invisible, immeasurable essence, and that when our perception of that essence matches up with something desirable, we want it. Well, I disagree with several particulars, but it's an interesting idea. Maybe not the end-all, be-all of pleasure, but certainly interesting.
heard on NPR the other day an interview with this guy.
asked by caller about scary movies/stories, he said people like these because they provide "practice" for risky, dangerous events that might really happen some day.
I don't buy that. does that mean that people that don't like horror movies, like myself, are somehow refusing to "practice" for scary difficult times ahead?
anyway. his book looks interesting.
asked by caller about scary movies/stories, he said people like these because they provide "practice" for risky, dangerous events that might really happen some day.
I don't buy that. does that mean that people that don't like horror movies, like myself, are somehow refusing to "practice" for scary difficult times ahead?
anyway. his book looks interesting.
Nothing really ground-breaking to be found in the book itself, however, Paul Bloom inundates the reader with references to many other works and studies that allows this book to serve as a launching point into many other lines of reading for the inquisitive. Opens more doors than it provides solutions but the goal of books is to make us think and it does provide substance in that regard.
I was intrigued by the title (of course, who wouldn't be) and picked it up hoping it would be a light, interesting read. Was definitely interesting & well written, particularly for an author with such a scholarly background. However ultimately I don't think it quite answered the question, at least for me. The first 2 chapters on food and sex were probably the highlight for me.
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Paul Bloom is a professor of psychology at Yale University. His research explores how children and adults understand the physical and social world, with special focus on morality, religion, fiction, and art. He has won numerous awards for his research and teaching. He is past-president of the Society for Philosophy and Psychology, and co-editor of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, one of the major jo...more
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Jul 01, 2011 02:04pm