Overview

Are we noble in reason? Perfect, in God's image? Far from it, says New York University psychologist Gary Marcus. In this lucid and revealing book, Marcus argues that the mind is not an elegantly designed organ but a kluge, a clumsy, cobbled-together contraption. He unveils a fundamentally new way of looking at the human mind--think duct tape, not supercomputer--that sheds light on some of the most mysterious aspects of human nature. Taking us on a tour of the fundamental areas of human experience--memory, belief, decision making, language, and happiness--Marcus reveals the myriad ways our minds fall short. He examines why people often vote against their own interests, why money can't buy happiness, why leaders often stick to bad decisions, and why a sentence like people people left left ties us into knots even though it's only four words long. He also offers surprisingly effective ways to outwit our inner kluge--for example, always consider alternative explanations, make contingency plans, and beware the vivid, personal anecdote. Throughout, he shows how only evolution--haphazard and undirected--could have produced the minds we humans have, while making a brilliant case for the power and usefulness of imperfection.

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"""Marcus develops his idea of the klugelike mind, in which emotion perpetually besieges the intellect, with appealing clarity."" ""Using evolutionary psychology, Marcus educates the reader about mental flaws in a succinct, often enjoyable way."" -- ""Publishers Weekly"""

Author Information

Gary Marcus is a professor of psychology at New York University and director of the NYU Infant Language Learning Center. A high school dropout, Marcus received his Ph.D. at age twenty-three from MIT, where he was mentored by Steven Pinker. He was a tenured professor by age thirty. The author of the Norton Psychology Reader, he has been a fellow at the prestigious Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Newsday, the Los Angeles Times, and other major publications. Stephen Hoye is an Audie Award and Earphones Award winner for the Best Voice in Biography and History. His audiobook career includes reading dozens of audiobooks, including James Ellroy's The Black Dahlia, Michael Lewis's The Blind Side, Carl Hiaasen's Skinny Dip, and Ben Bova's The Aftermath. Hoye trained at Boston University and The Guildhall in London. Hoye has worked as an actor for more than 30 years, with roles in films such as The Delivery, Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter, Little Shop of Horrors, and Spies Like Us. On television, he's been seen in The Return of Shelley, Drop the Dead Donkey, and Crossroads. He's also appeared on stage in Henry V and Love's Labours Lost, both at the Open Air Theatre in Regents Park, London.

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