Mind Hacks: Tips & Tools for Using Your Brain

by Tom Stafford, Matt Webb

The brain is a fearsomely complex information-processing environment--one that often eludes our ability to understand it. At any given time, the brain is collecting, filtering, and analyzing information and, in response, performing countless intricate processes, some of which are automatic, some voluntary, some conscious, and some unconscious. Cognitive neuroscience is one of the ways we have to understand the workings of our minds. It's the study of the brain biology behind our mental a collection of methods--like brain scanning and computational modeling--combined with a way of looking at psychological phenomena and discovering where, why, and how the brain makes them happen. Want to know more? Mind Hacks is a collection of probes into the moment-by-moment works of the brain. Using cognitive neuroscience, these experiments, tricks, and tips related to vision, motor skills, attention, cognition, subliminal perception, and more throw light on how the human brain works. Each hack examines specific operations of the brain. By seeing how the brain responds, we pick up clues about the architecture and design of the brain, learning a little bit more about how the brain is put together. Mind Hacks begins your exploration of the mind with a look inside the brain itself, using hacks such as "Transcranial Magnetic Turn On and Off Bits of the Brain" and "Tour the Cortex and the Four Lobes." Also among the 100 hacks in this book, you'll Steven Johnson, author of "Mind Wide Open" writes in his foreword to the book, "These hacks amaze because they reveal the brain's hidden logic; they shed light on the cheats and shortcuts and latent assumptions our brains make about the world." If you want to know more about what's going on in your head, then Mind Hacks is the key--let yourself play with the interface between you and the world.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Science, Self Help, Neuroscience, Brain, Productivity

394 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2004

About the author

Tom Stafford is a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Sheffield.

Reviews

[Dylan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a lot of very cool and interesting tips and facts about our brain capabilities! For example people live 80 milliseconds in the past because of the amount of time it takes to process things. Also when people read they only read the first and last lteters of a word, did you notice that I spelled letters wrong?

[Tim · Rating 2 out of 5]

First, where I come from we separate data from information. The first is just points without context, the second is useful and actionaable. I found most of the book to be more resembling data than information. Second, I wasn't finding anything new among the topics addressed. They are topics I am very interested in so adding nothing new or interesting to the discussion is a letdown. Maybe if I had read this book closer to when it came out that would not have been the case. Last, I REALLY don't like the format. I don't get what it is supposed to offer and I did find it annoying and distracting. For instance, I'm reading along and there is an interesting topic being discussed. I click on (I was reading the ebook version) Hack# (whatever) and it jumps BACK two sections. Well, I just read that and, silly me, I thought there was something more to be had in reference to the interesting part. Jumping me backwards only made me have to flip back to where I was to continue onward (disgruntledly).

[Ian Lindstrom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like one of those camping or survival books, but for your mind. It has lots of great info on different techniques, habits, and resources that help you to live a more effective life. Everything from making tough decisions, managing emotions, concentration, mental math, social situations, health, etc. This is not one of those hokey think-it-and-you-will-have-it books (ahem, The Secret), nor is it motivational. It focuses on the science behind our habits, how they work and how you can change them. It does all this while being accessible to anyone; the science isn't hard & the techniques are laid out step by step. A great resource.

[Bob Dutch · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's pretty much the same thing as its predecessor, Mind Performance Hacks, except with more theory and fewer practical hacks.

[Ushan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The publisher that brought out Excel Hacks and Linux Desktop Hacks made a foray into popular neurobiology and cognitive science. Humans find it a breeze to recognize faces, sometimes even seeing faces where there are none - a man's face in a Martian mountain, the devil's face in the smoke of collapsing WTC towers, Jesus' face on a burnt toast. There seems to be a brain region dedicated to this, though when brains of experts on cars and birds are imaged, this region lights up when they look at the subjects of their expertise. Applying magnetic fields to the brain, it is possible to influence, which finger a person will move, even though the person will insist that he chose this finger of his own free will. When a person looks at something, his eyes keep moving back and forth, but during the eye movements, information from the eyes is suppressed from conscious vision. More than 90% of amputees experience sensation and sometimes pain from the amputated limb; using visual tricks it is possible to make them "move" the limb into a less painful position. Memory is reconstruction; through suggestion, it is possible to make a person believe that he remembers something even though he really doesn't. When people recall scenes from their lives, they often imagine them from a third-person perspective; it is possible that the act of recall involves a brain region that, when electrically stimulated during brain surgery, produces an out-of-body experience. Memory is a giant web of interrelation; in order to recall something, one should try to recall its context.

Until a few weeks ago I was certain that Stanisław Lem's 1974 gunpowder-punk novella The Mask had a phrase, "The eye cannot turn backward and look at the brain," even though in fact it has no such thing. I don't know, what produced this false memory. And this phrase is actually wrong: the eye, working together with the hand and the brain itself, can build an MRI machine and look at the living brain. And of course two brains wrote this book and one wrote this review.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the book that basically convinced me I wanted to become a neuroscientist. Not so much the actual content of the book, which is interesting, but not mind blowing; but the realization that of all books I had heard about recently, this was the one that I really wanted.

The fact that it is an O'Reilly book, written in the familiar computer hacks style, only sealed the deal. The perfect mashup for my interests.

As per the content, if you are completely new to psychology/neuroscience there are some cool demonstrations of the slight of hand the brain uses in everyday life, but many of the examples are well known (and oft discussed in into psychology classes).

[Daniel Cornwall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good insights but at it's heart mostly a set of disconnected essays on the science of the brain and mind. Well researched, many "try it yourself" examples and a good index. But more a reference text or bathroom reader than something that draws you to read cover to cover.

The most surprising "hack" to me was the next to last one in the book "Spread a bad mood around." It documented that people (or at least college undergraduates) can have their mood changed by exposure to positive or negative statements. The examples seemed to bear this out and I should probably try and run down some of the papers. If you've heard of the "Velten Mood induction procedure", I'd love to hear from you. On the one hand it seems plausible. On the other, if it's so great I'm surprised that more people aren't using it since it's been around since 1968.

If you're curious about vision, hearing, how we move or where our moods come from, this book may be for you.

[Dora · Rating 2 out of 5]

Objectively speaking, the book is written in a popular manner but full of further (more scientific) references for those that want to know more. However, it's just not what I expected it to be.

There is a lot of talk about the biological/neurological reasons the brain functions the way it does in certain situations, but fewer tips on how to actually implement this in everyday life. Even in the "how this functions in life" segments, the focus is on further examples, rather than practical tips.

Nevertheless, the book is interesting and well-written, and especially well-organized.

[Mohamed Abd El-Khalek · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book has 100 serious articles - I wouldn't call them "hacks" but it's close enough - about various ways the mind works. Since this is an O'Reilly Hacks title, the text occasionally taps into the vocabulary familiar to computer geeks (like myself) - "Hack #33: Neural noise isn't a bug, it's a feature" - but not always. This book could just as easily find it's way on the Psychology shelf.

Each article also has a list of End Notes that give you further reading on each topic, which was really nice. Each "hack" is also cross-referenced very well with the other similar hacks, so you can bounce all over the book reading about various aspects of brain function. My favorite article discusses the "Hypnagogic State" - the sometimes brief period between wakefulness and sleep... I seem to find myself in that state quite a bit - now I have a name for it. =) =) =)

If you're interested in psychology or curious about the how and why, this could be a fun book to check out. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

[Vesna · Rating 2 out of 5]

It repeats too many times where is some hack. These are like some meta tags and I'm not much impressed with it. The things which were actually interesting were poorly explained. I think 3 of 5 stars is maybe even too high rate for this book. I wouldn't recommend it, although I appreciate authors efforts. Plus is it is rich with references, which is probably useful for medicine students or someone.

[matt sakaguchi · Rating 4 out of 5]

i like knowing why optical illusions work, how the brain functions, and why certain sensory stimuli can trip us up. this book has over 100 examples, plus exercises, exploring how and mind your brain works the way it does. it's a great book to have and pick up whenever you have a few minutes, since all of the "hacks" are discrete.

[Nick Hylands-white]

Not bad. Interesting pieces of psychological research that you can try out on yourself and experience fist hand. This book served as a bit of a reminder that some areas of psychology are actually real and not just a load of conjecture over the best way to skin a cat (and what the skin can tell us about how happy the cat was etc etc). Probably best dipped into than read cover to cover.

[Nakul Shenoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tom Stafford & Matt Webb's Mind Hacks: Tips & Tools for Using Your Brain is an interesting attempt at creating a guidebook of sorts for using our brain to its fullest. While some of the 'hacks' may not quite serve our daily needs, there are more than enough that justify the price of the book. Plus there are many ideas to kickstart creativity and problem-solve.

[lola · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess I thought this would be more practical? You know, something like Tips & Tools for Using Your Brain. But it was more just a re-hashing of a lot of recent neuro/cognitive scientific studies, which I guess would be interesting for some people. Some people who aren't me or my friends.

[Beckyj · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tons of cool, "gee whiz" facts about how the brain works. Well written for the lay-audience. I don't really recommend it for reading straight through (even the authors don't expect you to) but it's fun to flip through and read about whatever strikes your fancy.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was pretty good, but I think I was expecting a little more out of it - I've taken a lot of psychology classes, and this kind of covers a lot of what is covered in beginner psychology classes, unfortunately, but otherwise, it is laid out well and is a good read

[Hans Gerwitz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent introductory content, but the Hacks format is awkward and contrived. It shows, and I found myself feeling bad for the authors and worse for myself wading through page after page for the small snippets of knowledge scattered within.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was fun to learn to count binary with my hands. The thing with books like these is that I don't need everything all the time and when I might need it I won't know what I'm looking for so I give it 3 stars. It doesn't translate to a solid skill set.

[Ninja Pigeon · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have ever had one of those days where you came up with a great retort 5 minutes after an embarrassing moment, and couldn't figure out why it took you that long, this book is for you.

[Wilte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Doesn't really work as a book to be read in a linear fashion. It is a collection of 100 very well written and funny blog posts with lots of links on how the brain works.

All links: http://mindhacks.com/book/links/

[Ravi · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want to understand, Why a lot of times you do something without realizing why you did it, How mind works around the physical limitations of our other organs making us see or feel things which are not there or vice versa, this is a must read.

[Tania · Rating 5 out of 5]

Davvero interessante. Spiega alcuni meccanismi del nostro cervello di cui spesso non siamo consapevoli (per esempio illusioni ottiche ma anche temi meno noti) e fornisce esempi o istruzioni per verificarli. Non ho però l'impressione di saper utilizzare meglio la mia intelligenza adesso :)

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book that I had the pleasure to be involved with. Playful, well-grounded in the evidence and full of head-bursting stuff.

[Whitney · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books ever. How your mind works- how to use it better.

[Jer]

I read the mindhacks.com blog regularly and I think it's time I checkout the book.

[Carol]

Just got this one in from my Half.com wish list. Looks fun!

[Xenophon Hendrix · Rating 2 out of 5]

Persons who have already read a lot about psychology probably won't find much new here. It might be pretty good for persons just getting into the subject.

[Jonathan El-Bizri · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. Didn't learn any mind hacks, tips OR tools.

[Luke Faraone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly entertaining and insightful.

[John]

maybe i will finish it later, but right now there is just too much stuff i have to read that is actually relevant to my life.