Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Nonfiction Audio


As I've mentioned before, I love to read nonfiction about human behavior...why we are the way we are.

This one sites many studies I've heard about in other books...like BLINK, by Malcolm Gladwell...another good book...but Eagleman's perspective is different.

He even questions if we have any free will (gasp)...The evidence is strong that we don't (read book).

I prefer the realistic yet optimistic view that we have less free will than we think we do and that being conscious of this fact can help us gain more free will. Self-actualization...it's the wave of the future (I hope).

He also has some interesting ideas on what the focus of our penal system should be.

The most exciting things for me were that he questioned whether or not traditional reductionist scientific thinking will ever answer all our questions about the human brain (or other things). Also, he stated his belief that Occam's Razor (the scientific theory that the simplest solution is usually the right one) limits imagination...I've always believed this, so it's nice to hear someone more educated say they agree.

What about you? Read this or anything like it? What do you think about free will?

And come back Thur for my How Many Have You Read/Heard contest...lots of good reading/listening recommendations and ARCs to give away.

1 comment:

  1. Sounds like such a fascinating read! I'll have to check it out.

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