How the Mind Works

so-so

It pains me to rate this only so-so. I used to be a Pinker fan, though I‘d only dabbled in his works for papers I wrote in grad school. Unfortunately this book is so dated I‘m not sure how much of it is still relevant. His pop-culture touchstones are obsolete (Ellen the sitcom, countries that no longer exist) and it‘s jarring. I have several other of his books and now I‘m leery of reading them. Wish this had an updated version.

31 likes

ravenlee

How the Mind Works | Steven Pinker

This bit about boys at summer camp reminds me of all these classroom experiments surrounding Lord of the Flies, and how it seems to represent a particular subset rather than society in general.

ā€...carefully selected a group of well-adjusted, middle-class American boys...ā€¯

TheAromaofBooks True, but I do think the idea is that you're starting with a group of people who ā€shouldn'tā€ be bringing a lot of other baggage to the situation, which makes the deterioration of their humanity that much more drastic. To make the experiment ā€meaningfulā€ you start with a group that hypothetically hasn't been exposed to the more animalistic side of life (abuse, neglect, hunger, etc) - yet they still tend to revert to that behavior anyway. 5y

ravenlee @TheAromaofBooks I agree, but I don‘t think this particular experiment proves much about human nature in general so much as about this particular subset. After all, this is the class that generated Brock Hudson and his ilk - so I‘d guess that there‘s a sense of entitlement that contributes to this sort of behavior. I‘d like to think there are more up-to-date studies than this one, but the age of the book is part of the problem. 5y

23 likes2 comments

ravenlee

How the Mind Works | Steven Pinker

I‘m 70% through the tagged book (requires quiet and concentration, neither of which I have in abundance). Might start one of the others today. Raven‘s Shadow is my #doublespin @TheAromaofBooks . And, naturally, I have a few more in the wings if I finish these or need something different. Looking forward to #24B4Monday with the always awesome hosts @Andrew65 @SumisBooks @jb72

Andrew65 Good luck with the Readathon and on finding that quiet contemplation time! š‘¨š (edited) 5y

TheAromaofBooks It's impossible to have too many books waiting in the wings!! 5y

45 likes2 comments

ravenlee

How the Mind Works | Steven Pinker

Book synchronicity - today I started my #bookspin, The Happy Kid Handbook (which is not going so well, TBH). I‘ve been plugging away at the tagged book since January, and just got to this section. Now to see if they complement, contradict, or have absolutely nothing to do with each other.

39 likes

ravenlee

How the Mind Works | Steven Pinker

#JumpStart2020 wrapup: of my original stack I finished the five marked books. I am about 40% into the tagged book, which I knew would go slowly. Didn‘t get to the Briggs. I also read two Nancy Drews with the kiddo, for a total of seven finished. It‘s been a tough month for me, very busy momming and there‘s no let-up in sight. Hoping to get some reading done while traveling this next week.

Thanks to @Lizpixie @Clwojick for hosting!

Nikki_E Dicey‘s Song (and Homecoming) were faves when I was growing up. 5y

ravenlee @Nikki_E I love both of them and have read them many times. I am trying to continue the series, but I stalled early on the last time I tried the next book. Fingers crossed for this next try! 5y

Clwojick Thanks for joining! ā™�ļø¸ 5y

37 likes3 comments

ravenlee

How the Mind Works | Steven Pinker

ā€Indeed, a mind that passively accepted ambient memes would be a sitting duck for exploitation by others and would have quickly been selected against.ā€¯

Election tampering via social media, anyone?

Clare-Dragonfly š¬ 5y

27 likes1 comment

ravenlee

How the Mind Works | Steven Pinker