Riveted The Science Of Why Jokes Make Us Laugh Movies Make Us Cry And Religion Makes Us Feel One With The Universe

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Riveted: The Science of Why Jokes Make Us Laugh, Movies Make Us Cry, and Religion Makes Us Feel One with the Universe

Author : Jim Davies
Publisher : St. Martin's Press
ISBN 13 : 1137438142
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (374 download)

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Book Synopsis Riveted: The Science of Why Jokes Make Us Laugh, Movies Make Us Cry, and Religion Makes Us Feel One with the Universe by : Jim Davies

Download or read book Riveted: The Science of Why Jokes Make Us Laugh, Movies Make Us Cry, and Religion Makes Us Feel One with the Universe written by Jim Davies and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2014-08-05 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why do some things pass under the radar of our attention, but other things capture our interest? Why do some religions catch on and others fade away? What makes a story, a movie, or a book riveting? Why do some people keep watching the news even though it makes them anxious? The past 20 years have seen a remarkable flourishing of scientific research into exactly these kinds of questions. Professor Jim Davies' fascinating and highly accessible book, Riveted, reveals the evolutionary underpinnings of why we find things compelling, from art to religion and from sports to superstition. Compelling things fit our minds like keys in the ignition, turning us on and keeping us running, and yet we are often unaware of what makes these "keys" fit. What we like and don't like is almost always determined by subconscious forces, and when we try to consciously predict our own preferences we're often wrong. In one study of speed dating, people were asked what kinds of partners they found attractive. When the results came back, the participants' answers before the exercise had no correlation with who they actually found attractive in person! We are beginning to understand just how much the brain makes our decisions for us: we are rewarded with a rush of pleasure when we detect patterns, as the brain thinks we've discovered something significant; the mind urges us to linger on the news channel or rubberneck an accident in case it might pick up important survival information; it even pushes us to pick up People magazine in order to find out about changes in the social structure.Drawing on work from philosophy, anthropology, religious studies, psychology, economics, computer science, and biology, Davies offers a comprehensive explanation to show that in spite of the differences between the many things that we find compelling, they have similar effects on our minds and brains.

The Practice of Groundedness

Author : Brad Stulberg
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0593329902
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (933 download)

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Book Synopsis The Practice of Groundedness by : Brad Stulberg

Download or read book The Practice of Groundedness written by Brad Stulberg and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-09-07 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “This book gets to the heart of the matter.” --Ryan Holiday, New York Times bestselling author of Stillness Is the Key and Ego Is the Enemy “This book taps into something that so many of us feel but can’t articulate.” --Arianna Huffington, Founder & CEO, Thrive Global “Ambitious, far-reaching, and impactful." --David Epstein, New York Times bestselling author of Range and The Sports Gene From the bestselling author of Peak Performance comes a powerful antidote to heroic individualism and the ensuing epidemic of burnout. Achievement often comes at a cost. Angst, restlessness, frayed relationships, exhaustion, and even substance abuse can be the unwanted side effects of an obsession with outward performance. While the high of occasional wins can keep you going for a while, playing into the always-on, never enough hustle culture ultimately takes a serious toll. In The Practice of Groundedness, bestselling author Brad Stulberg shares a healthier, more sustainable model for success. At the heart of this model is groundedness--a practice that values presence over rote productivity, accepts that progress is nonlinear, and prioritizes long-term values and fulfillment over short-term gain. To be grounded is to possess a firm and unwavering foundation, a resolute sense of self from which deep and enduring, not shallow and superficial, success can be found. Groundedness does not eliminate ambition and striving; rather, it situates these qualities and channels them in more meaningful ways. Interweaving case studies, modern science, and time-honored lessons from ancient wisdom traditions such as Buddhism, Stoicism, and Taoism, Stulberg teaches readers how to cultivate the habits and practices of a more grounded life. Readers will learn: • Why patience is the key to getting where you want to go faster--in work and life--and how to develop it, pushing back against the culture’s misguided obsession with speed and “hacks.” • How to utilize the lens of the wise observer in order to overcome delusion and resistance to clearly see and accept where you are—which is the key to more effectively getting where you want to go • Why embracing vulnerability is the key to genuine strength and confidence • The critical importance of “deep community,” or cultivating a sense of belonging and connection to people, places, and causes. Provocative and practical, The Practice of Groundedness is the necessary corrective to the frenetic pace and endemic burnout resulting from contemporary definitions of success. It offers a new—and better—way.

Imagination

Author : Jim Davies
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1643132881
Total Pages : 400 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (431 download)

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Book Synopsis Imagination by : Jim Davies

Download or read book Imagination written by Jim Davies and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2019-11-05 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We don’t think of imagination the way that we should. The word is often only associated with children, artists and daydreamers, but in reality, imagination is an integral part of almost every action and decision that we make. Simply put, imagination is a person’s ability to create scenarios in his or her head: this can include everything from planning a grocery list, to honing a golf swing, to having religious hallucinations. And while imagination has positive connotations, it can also lead to decreased productivity and cooperation, or worse, the continuous reliving of past trauma.The human brain is remarkable in its ability to imagine—it can imagine complex possible futures, fantasy worlds, or tasty meals. We can use our imaginations to make us relaxed or anxious. We can imagine what the world might be, and construct elaborate plans. People have been fascinated with the machination of the human brain and its ability to imagine for centuries. There are books on creativity, dreams, memory, and the mind in general, but how exactly do we create those scenes in our head? With chapters ranging from hallucination and imaginary friends to how imagination can make you happier and more productive, Jim Davies' Imagination will help us explore the full potential of our own mind.

Planting Design

Author : Patrick Mooney
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 0429557914
Total Pages : 309 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (295 download)

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Book Synopsis Planting Design by : Patrick Mooney

Download or read book Planting Design written by Patrick Mooney and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-10-30 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Landscape designers have long understood the use of plants to provide beauty, aesthetic pleasure and visual stimulation while supporting a broad range of functional goals. However, the potential for plants in the landscape to elicit human involvement and provide mental stimulation and restoration is much less well understood. This book meshes the art of planting design with an understanding of how humans respond to natural environments. Beginning with an understanding of human needs, preferences and responses to landscape, the author interprets the ways in which an understanding of the human-environment interaction can inform planting design. Many of the principles and techniques that may be used in planting design are beautifully illustrated in full colour with examples by leading landscape architects and designers from the United Kingdom, Europe, North America and Asia, including: Andrea Cochran, Andrea Cochran Landscape Architecture, San Francisco, CA Design Workshop Inc. Richard Hartlage, Land Morphology, Seattle, WA Shunmyo Masuno, Japan Landscape Consultants Ltd., Yokohama Piet Oudolf, Hummelo, The Netherlands Melody Redekop, Vancouver Christine Ten Eyck, Ten Eyck Landscape Architects Inc., Austin, TX Kongjian Yu, Turenscape Ltd., Beijing. The book stimulates thought, provides new direction and assists the reader to find their own unique design voice. Because there are many valid processes and intentions for landscape design, the book is not intended to be overly prescriptive. Rather than presenting a strict design method and accompanying set of rules, Planting Design provides information, insight and inspiration as a basis for developing the individual designer’s own expression in this most challenging of art forms.

Adapted Brains and Imaginary Worlds

Author : Donald Beecher
Publisher : McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
ISBN 13 : 0773598537
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (735 download)

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Book Synopsis Adapted Brains and Imaginary Worlds by : Donald Beecher

Download or read book Adapted Brains and Imaginary Worlds written by Donald Beecher and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 2016-03-01 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Adapted Brains and Imaginary Worlds, Donald Beecher explores the characteristics and idiosyncrasies of the brain as they affect the study of fiction. He builds upon insights from the cognitive sciences to explain how we actualize imaginary persons, read the clues to their intentional states, assess their representations of selfhood, and empathize with their felt experiences in imaginary environments. He considers how our own faculty of memory, in all its selective particularity and planned oblivion, becomes an increasingly significant dimension of the critical act, and how our own emotions become aggressive readers of literary experience, culminating in states which define the genres of literature. Beecher illustrates his points with examples from major works of the Renaissance period, including Dr Faustus, The Faerie Queene, Measure for Measure, The Yorkshire Tragedy, Menaphon, The Dialogue of Solomon and Marcolphus, and The Moral Philosophy of Doni. In this volume, studies in the science of mind come into their own in explaining the architectures of the brain that shape such emergent properties as empathy, suspense, curiosity, the formation of communities, gossip, rationalization, confabulation, and so much more that pertains to the behaviour of characters, the orientation of readers, and the construction of meaning. Discussing a breadth of topics – from the mysteries of the criminal mind to the psychology of tears – Adapted Brains and Imaginary Worlds is the most comprehensive work available on the study of fictional worlds and their relation to the constitution of the human brain.

E-Learning Systems, Environments and Approaches

Author : Pedro Isaías
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3319058258
Total Pages : 329 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (19 download)

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Book Synopsis E-Learning Systems, Environments and Approaches by : Pedro Isaías

Download or read book E-Learning Systems, Environments and Approaches written by Pedro Isaías and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-03-12 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The volume consists of twenty-five chapters selected from among peer-reviewed papers presented at the CELDA (Cognition and Exploratory Learning in the Digital Age) 2013 Conference held in Fort Worth, Texas, USA, in October 2013 and also from world class scholars in e-learning systems, environments and approaches. The following sub-topics are included: Exploratory Learning Technologies (Part I), e-Learning social web design (Part II), Learner communities through e-Learning implementations (Part III), Collaborative and student-centered e-Learning design (Part IV). E-Learning has been, since its initial stages, a synonym for flexibility. While this dynamic nature has mainly been associated with time and space it is safe to argue that currently it embraces other aspects such as the learners’ profile, the scope of subjects that can be taught electronically and the technology it employs. New technologies also widen the range of activities and skills developed in e-Learning. Electronic learning environments have evolved past the exclusive delivery of knowledge. Technology has endowed e-Learning with the possibility of remotely fomenting problem solving skills, critical thinking and team work, by investing in information exchange, collaboration, personalisation and community building.

Impossible Puzzle Films

Author : Miklos Kiss
Publisher : Edinburgh University Press
ISBN 13 : 1474406742
Total Pages : 240 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (744 download)

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Book Synopsis Impossible Puzzle Films by : Miklos Kiss

Download or read book Impossible Puzzle Films written by Miklos Kiss and published by Edinburgh University Press. This book was released on 2017-01-18 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Narrative complexity is a trend in contemporary cinema. Since the late 1990s there has been a palpable increase in complex storytelling in movies. But how and why do complex movies create perplexity and confusion? How do we engage with these challenges? And what makes complex stories so attractive? By blending film studies, narrative theory and cognitive sciences, Kiss and Wilemsen look into the relation between complex storytelling and the mind. Analysing the effects that different complex narratives have on viewers, the book addresses how films like Donnie Darko, Mulholland Drive and Primer strategically create complexity and confusion, using the specific category of the impossible puzzle film to examine movies that use baffling paradoxes, impossible loops, and unresolved ambiguities in their stories and storytelling. By looking at how these films play on our mind's blind spots, this innovative book explains their viewing effects in terms of the mental state of cognitive dissonance that they evoke.

Doctor Who Psychology (2nd Edition)

Author : Travis Langley
Publisher : Turner Publishing Company
ISBN 13 : 1684429854
Total Pages : 267 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (844 download)

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Book Synopsis Doctor Who Psychology (2nd Edition) by : Travis Langley

Download or read book Doctor Who Psychology (2nd Edition) written by Travis Langley and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 2023-11-07 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How does an immortal deal with death? What can an ancient Time Lord teach us about real human nature? Why does the Doctor say he and Freud “got on very well”? How do the Daleks and Cybermen reflect concerns about losing our humanity? And what new challenges loom ahead when the Doctor regenerates as a woman? Hailed as the “most successful sci-fi series ever made” (Guinness World Records), Doctor Who has been a cult-classic for more than half a century. And though time may not be the boss—Rule 408—as times change, so too do social norms and psychological challenges, which have paved the way for a new kind of Doctor who can appeal to the modern viewer. Revised and updated for our changing times, the second edition of Doctor Who Psychology: Times Change explores the alien in us all. Travis Langley’s fascinating in-depth collection delves into the psychology behind the time-traveling Doctor in his many iterations—as men and women—as well as his companions and his foes. With a foreword by Third Doctor Companion Katy Manning, an introduction to the second edition, and new interviews with actors who have played Doctors new and old, Doctor Who Psychology: Times Change travels through the how and why of Who. Contributors to the second edition include: Jenna Busch * Erin Currie * Jim Davies * Kristin Erickson * Wind Goodfriend * Daniel Hand * David Kyle Johnson * Billy San Juan * Deirdre Kelly * Alan Kistler * Travis Langley * Katy Manning * Justine Mastin * Matt Munson * Miranda Pollock * Stephen Prescott * Sarita Robinson * Aaron Sagers * Daniel Saunders * Janina Scarlet * William Sharp

Stolen Child

Author : Laurie Gough
Publisher : Dundurn
ISBN 13 : 1459735935
Total Pages : 176 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (597 download)

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Book Synopsis Stolen Child by : Laurie Gough

Download or read book Stolen Child written by Laurie Gough and published by Dundurn. This book was released on 2016-09-10 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A year in the desperate life of a boy transformed by OCD from a bright ten-year-old into a stranger in his own skin. Although Laurie Gough was an intrepid traveller who had explored wild, far-off reaches of the globe, the journey she and her family took in their own home in their small Quebec village proved to be far more frightening, strange, and foreign than any land she had ever visited. It began when Gough’s son, shattered by his grandfather’s death, transformed from a bright, soccer-ball kicking ten-year-old into a near-stranger, falling into trances where his parents couldn’t reach him and performing ever-changing rituals of magical thinking designed to bring his grandpa back to life. Stolen Child examines a horrifying year in one family’s life, the lengths the parents went to to help their son, and how they won the battle against his all-consuming disorder.

Routledge Companion to Audiences and the Performing Arts

Author : Matthew Reason
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1000537986
Total Pages : 774 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (5 download)

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Book Synopsis Routledge Companion to Audiences and the Performing Arts by : Matthew Reason

Download or read book Routledge Companion to Audiences and the Performing Arts written by Matthew Reason and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2022-04-05 with total page 774 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Routledge Companion to Audiences and the Performing Arts represents a truly multi-dimensional exploration of the inter-relationships between audiences and performance. This study considers audiences contextually and historically, through both qualitative and quantitative empirical research, and places them within appropriate philosophical and socio-cultural discourses. Ultimately, the collection marks the point where audiences have become central and essential not just to the act of performance itself but also to theatre, dance, opera, music and performance studies as academic disciplines. This Companion will be of great interest to academics, researchers and postgraduates, as well as to theatre, dance, opera and music practitioners and performing arts organisations and stakeholders involved in educational activities.

A Companion to Public Philosophy

Author : Lee McIntyre
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1119635225
Total Pages : 484 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (196 download)

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Book Synopsis A Companion to Public Philosophy by : Lee McIntyre

Download or read book A Companion to Public Philosophy written by Lee McIntyre and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2022-04-19 with total page 484 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first anthology devoted to the theory and practice of all forms of public philosophy A Companion to Public Philosophy brings together in a single volume the diverse practices, modalities, and perspectives of this rapidly growing field. Forty-two chapters written by established practitioners and newer voices alike consider questions ranging from the definition of public philosophy to the value of public philosophy to both society and philosophy itself. Throughout the book, philosophers offer insights into the different publics they have engaged, the topics they have explored, the methods they have used and the lessons they have learned from these engagements. The Companion explores important philosophical issues concerning the practice of philosophy in the public sphere, how public philosophy relates to advocacy, philosophical collaborations with political activists, locations where public philosophy can be done, and more. Many essays highlight underserved topics such as effective altruism, fat activism, trans activism, indigenous traditions, and Africana philosophy, while other essays set the stage for rigorous debates about the boundaries of public philosophy and its value as a legitimate way to do philosophy. Discusses the range of approaches that professional philosophers can use to engage with non-academic audiences Explores the history and impact of public philosophy from the time of Socrates to the modern era Highlights the work of public philosophers concerning issues of equity, social justice, environmentalism, and medical ethics Covers the modalities used by contemporary public philosophers, including film and television, podcasting, internet memes, and community-engaged teaching Includes essays by those who bring philosophy to corporations, government policy, consulting, American prisons, and activist groups across the political spectrum A Companion to Public Philosophy is essential reading for philosophers from all walks of life who are invested in and curious about the ways that philosophy can impact the public and how the public can impact philosophy. It is also an excellent text for undergraduate and graduate courses on the theory and practice of public philosophy as well as broader courses on philosophy, normative ethics, and comparative and world philosophy.

Being the Person Your Dog Thinks You Are

Author : Jim Davies
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1643136518
Total Pages : 342 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (431 download)

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Book Synopsis Being the Person Your Dog Thinks You Are by : Jim Davies

Download or read book Being the Person Your Dog Thinks You Are written by Jim Davies and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-02-02 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A crisp and sparkling blend of cognitive science and human behavior that offers meaningful and attainable pathways towards becoming our best selves. Why do we feel like in order to be productive, happy, or good, we must sacrifice everything else? Is it possible to feel all three at once? Without even knowing it, we’re doing things everyday to sabotage ourselves and our societies, habits that prevent us from optimizing long term happiness. Where most books imagine solutions that, when enacted, fail to fundamentally improve our lives, Jim Davies grounds his research in cognitive science to show you not only what works, but how much it works. Being the Person Your Dog Thinks You Are shows us how we can use science to become our best selves, using resources we already have within our own brains. Davies's book challenges and inspires us to approach the big picture while also staying mindful of the everyday details in real life. Davies proves why multitasking is bad for you, when a little unmindfulness can be good for you, how to best justify which charities to donate to, and how to hack your brain. The most surprising truth Davies offers us spreads across these pages like wildfire: you too can lead an optimally good life, not through uprooting your life from the ground up, but from adapting your mentality to your given present. A better life doesn’t need to look like a massive change—like our beloved dogs who already view us as our best selves, it’s already much closer than you think.

The Art of Risk

Author : Kayt Sukel
Publisher : National Geographic Books
ISBN 13 : 1426214731
Total Pages : 235 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (262 download)

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Book Synopsis The Art of Risk by : Kayt Sukel

Download or read book The Art of Risk written by Kayt Sukel and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2016-03-01 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Are risk-takers born or made? Why are some more willing to go out on a limb (so to speak) than others? How do we weigh the value of opportunities large or small that may have the potential to change the course of our lives? These are just a few of the questions that author Kayt Sukel tackles, applying the latest research in neuroscience and psychology to compelling real-world situations. Building on a portfolio of work that has appeared in such publications as Scientific American, Atlantic Monthly, The Washington Post, and more, Sukel offers an in-depth look at risk-taking and its role in the many facets of life that resonates on a personal level. Smart, progressive, and truly enlightening, The Art of Risk blends riveting case studies and hard-hitting science to explore risk-taking and how it impacts decision-making in work, play, love, and life, providing insight in understanding individual behavior and furthering personal success.

The Aesthetic Brain

Author : Anjan Chatterjee
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199811806
Total Pages : 244 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (998 download)

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Book Synopsis The Aesthetic Brain by : Anjan Chatterjee

Download or read book The Aesthetic Brain written by Anjan Chatterjee and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2014 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Aesthetic Brain takes the reader on a wide-ranging journey addressing fundamental questions about aesthetics and art. Using neuroscience and evolutionary psychology, Chatterjee shows how beauty, pleasure, and art are grounded biologically, and offers explanations for why beauty, pleasure, and art exist at all.

Why We Believe in God(s)

Author : J. Anderson Thomson
Publisher : Pitchstone Publishing (US&CA)
ISBN 13 : 0984493239
Total Pages : 89 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (844 download)

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Book Synopsis Why We Believe in God(s) by : J. Anderson Thomson

Download or read book Why We Believe in God(s) written by J. Anderson Thomson and published by Pitchstone Publishing (US&CA). This book was released on 2014-07-01 with total page 89 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this groundbreaking volume, J. Anderson Thomson, Jr., MD, with Clare Aukofer, offers a succinct yet comprehensive study of how and why the human mind generates religious belief. Dr. Thomson, a highly respected practicing psychiatrist with credentials in forensic psychiatry and evolutionary psychology, methodically investigates the components and causes of religious belief in the same way any scientist would investigate the movement of astronomical bodies or the evolution of life over time—that is, as a purely natural phenomenon. Providing compelling evidence from psychology, the cognitive neurosciences, and related fields, he, with Ms. Aukofer, presents an easily accessible and exceptionally convincing case that god(s) were created by man—not vice versa. With this slim volume, Dr. Thomson establishes himself as a must-read thinker and leading voice on the primacy of reason and science over superstition and religion.

Mind Is Flat

Author : Nick Chater
Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 0300240619
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (2 download)

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Book Synopsis Mind Is Flat by : Nick Chater

Download or read book Mind Is Flat written by Nick Chater and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2018-08-07 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a radical reinterpretation of how the mind works, an eminent behavioral scientist reveals the illusion of mental depth Psychologists and neuroscientists struggle with how best to interpret human motivation and decision making. The assumption is that below a mental “surface” of conscious awareness lies a deep and complex set of inner beliefs, values, and desires that govern our thoughts, ideas, and actions, and that to know this depth is to know ourselves. In this profoundly original book, behavioral scientist Nick Chater contends just the opposite: rather than being the plaything of unconscious currents, the brain generates behaviors in the moment based entirely on our past experiences. Engaging the reader with eye-opening experiments and visual examples, the author first demolishes our intuitive sense of how our mind works, then argues for a positive interpretation of the brain as a ceaseless and creative improviser.

The Art Instinct

Author : Denis Dutton
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 0199539421
Total Pages : 289 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (995 download)

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Book Synopsis The Art Instinct by : Denis Dutton

Download or read book The Art Instinct written by Denis Dutton and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2009 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Dinka have a connoisseur's appreciation of the patterns and colours of the markings on their cattle. The Japanese tea ceremony is regarded as a performance art. Some cultures produce carving but no drawing; others specialize in poetry. Yet despite the rich variety of artistic expression to be found across many cultures, we all share a deep sense of aesthetic pleasure. The need to create art of some form is found in every human society.In The Art Instinct, Denis Dutton explores the idea that this need has an evolutionary basis: how the feelings that we all share when we see a wonderful landscape or a beautiful sunset evolved as a useful adaptation in our hunter-gather ancestors, and have been passed on to us today, manifest in our artistic natures. Why do people indulge in displaying their artistic skills? How can we understand artistic genius? Why do we value art, and what is it for? These questions have long been asked by scholars in the humanities and in literature, but this is the first book to consider the biological basis of this deep human need.This sparking and intelligent book looks at these deep and fundamental questions, and combines the science of evolutionary psychology with aesthetics, to shed new light on longstanding questions about the nature of art.