Tall Tales about the Mind and Brain: Separating Fact from Fiction

by Sergio Della Sala (editor)

Does listening to Mozart make us more intelligent? Is there such a thing as a gay gene? Does the size of the brain matter? Does the moon influence our behaviour? Can we communicate with the dead? Can graphology tell us anything about a person's character? Is the human brain clonable? What role do dreams have in cognition? Can mind conquer matter and diseases? Are out-of-body experiences possible? Can we trust our intuitions? To some, the answer to all these questions might well be a resounding 'no', but to many people these represent serious beliefs about the mind and brain - beliefs that drive their everyday behaviour, beliefs that cost them huge amounts of money. Whole industries have developed founded on these dubious claims about the mind and brain. Even major corporations have dabbled with assessment methods such as those advocated by graphology, accepting and rejecting candidates on the basic of their handwriting. Expectant parents buy books and tapes by the dozen showing them how to improve the intelligence of their child by playing them classical music. People subscribe to expensive therapies founded on beliefs rather than science, or risk their health buying books that tell them how they can conquer illness through positive thinking, perhaps at the expense of more scientifically proven treatments. Tall Tales about the Mind and Brain presents a sweeping survey of common myths about the mind and brain. In a lighthearted and accessible style, it exposes the truth behind these beliefs, how they are perpetuated, why people believe them, and why they might even exist in the first place.

Genres: Psychology

552 pages, Hardcover

First published January 11, 2007

Reviews

[Scarlett Sims · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok so I decided I wasn't actually going to finish this book after getting more than halfway through it because it just wasn't interesting enough for me to put the time into it, but I'll review the bits I did read.

Basically when I picked this up, I thought it was going to be an Oliver Sacks type layman's fun/interesting "this is how your brain works" type thing. It's actually quite technical. Not so technical that I absolutely couldn't understand it, but certainly scholarly and not intended for leisure reading.

Also some of the chapters were poorly edited. It seemed to be a case of "the author isn't a native English speaker" but I still found it annoying.

Lastly, I didn't really think that some of the tall tales were common misconceptions, which seemed to be the author's opinion. I can't remember any specifically right now but they were things that I had never heard/thought.

I am giving the book three stars because the parts I read were interesting and gave Hunter and myself some good driving conversations, but overall it was a bit disappointing. I hate not finishing a book but there is so much out there that interests me more.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was like catnip for my inner skeptic (really? no studies have shown a correlation between increased craziness/violence and full moons? hmmm). At 29 chapters there were bunches of interesting "myths" covered. However some of the chapters were much better written than others. Some had a downright pop science feel while others were the dullest of scholarly works. Almost every chapter included a full bibliography... just in case your inner skeptic wasn't satisfied.

My copy said it was reprinted and newly edited version which makes me wonder why it contained so many typos. Seriously, you'd think a prestigious press such as Oxford University Press could dig up a decent editor.