The Genius of Instinct: Reclaim Mother Nature's Tools for Enhancing Your Health, Happiness, Family, and Work [Hardcover]

Hendrie Weisinger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 28, 2009 | ISBN-10: 013235702X | ISBN-13: 978-0132357029 | Edition: 1

Why do we sometimes get into the wrong relationships, take the wrong jobs, and make the wrong choices?  The answers and solutions to these everyday plights are revealed by today’s “scientists of the mind,” evolutionary psychologists who have discovered stunning new lessons about the power of instincts and their capacity to transform lives positively. But too many of us have lost contact with our instincts. We don’t hear them. We don’t use them. And that gets us in trouble–over and over again. Now, Dr. Hendrie Weisinger shows how to reconnect with the instincts Mother Nature gave you. You’ll rediscover the six most indispensable human instincts that have evolved over millions and millions of years. Then, you’ll learn why you have emotions, and how to listen to them...how to scout out an environment that'll nurture you... how to become more comfortable with your vulnerabilities... have more fun by stimulating your curiosity... build deeper bonds with those around you... make yourself more attractive to mates and employers alike! You're hardwired for success. Use the powerful instincts Mother Nature gave you and gain the joy, fulfillment, and pleasure you deserve!

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Author and psychologist Weisinger (Nobody's Perfect), an executive educator specializing in organizational psychology, posits the idea that human beings are "hard-wired for success" (not simply for survival) by mechanisms in our brain developed over ten million years of natural selection-instinctual mechanisms like emotion and empathy which we devalue against higher functions like reason and analysis. In this lively self-help, Weisinger offers fairly standard advice (maximize attractiveness, keep learning, practice reciprocity), but his approach is frequently counterintuitive, often with illuminating results. Locating the hardwired center for emotions in the face (rather than, say, the brain stem), he suggests that the way to get yourself out of a bad relationship is to use "your angry face," which communicates feelings not just to your partner but to the rest of your body, "giving you the energy to rid yourself of something that is toxic to you"-literally, the strength to walk out the door. Elsewhere, Weisinger explains why contentment often prevents growth, and why "tending," giving care to others, is a "life enhancer for the entire family" and/or the office staff.
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From the Back Cover

Why are we sometimes so unhappy and unfulfilled?

 

Why do we sometimes get into the wrong relationships, take the wrong jobs, and make the wrong choices?

 

The answers and solutions to these everyday plights are revealed by today’s “scientists of the mind,” evolutionary psychologists who have discovered stunning new lessons about the power of instincts and their capacity to transform lives positively.

 

But too many of us have lost contact with our instincts. We don’t hear them. We don’t use them. And that gets us in trouble—over and over again.

 

Now, Dr. Hendrie Weisinger shows how to reconnect with the instincts Mother Nature gave you. You’ll rediscover the six most indispensable human instincts that have evolved over millions and millions of years. Then, you’ll learn how to use them to thrive in every part of your life...enhancing your health and happiness, your marriage and parenting, even your work and personal creativity!

 

Introduction     1                                                                                                                      

 

Part I: Shelter Seek…So You Can Find Your Home     9

Chapter 1: Selecting an Empowering Environment     11                                   

Chapter 2: The Face of Emotions     17                                                            

Chapter 3: Home Hunting     27                                                                                   

Chapter 4: Shelter Seeking Today     37                                                           

 

Part II: Care Solicit…So You Can Protect Your Vulnerabilities     51

Chapter 5: Protecting Your Vulnerabilities     53                                               

Chapter 6: The Benefits of Vulnerability     65                                                   

Chapter 7: The Importance of Ghost Busters     71                                           

Chapter 8: Care Soliciting Today     77                                                            

 

Part III: Care Give…So You Can Develop the Future     89

Chapter 9: Developing the Future     91                                                            

Chapter 10: I Gave at the Office     95                                                             

Chapter 11: Care Giving Today     99                                                              

 

Part IV: Beautify…So You Can Pull People Toward You     115

Chapter 12: Pulling People Toward You     117                                                           

Chapter 13: Beautify Today     123                                                                  

Chapter 14: Broadly Attractive     133                                                             

 

Part V: Co-op…So You Can Get People Working Together     143

Chapter 15: Team Game     145                                                                                   

Chapter 16: Interaction: Play Ball!      153                                                                    

Chapter 17: Stimulating Cooperation     161 ... --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: FT Press; 1 edition (March 28, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 013235702X
• ISBN-13: 978-0132357029
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,276,168 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Had Its Moments but Generally Disappointing, June 22, 2009

By 

bronx book nerd (Bronx, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Genius of Instinct: Reclaim Mother Nature's Tools for Enhancing Your Health, Happiness, Family, and Work (Hardcover)

I was expecting much more from this book but I found it generally disappointing. First, Dr. Weisinger has a very poor writing style and could have used significantly more help from a good editor (and a proof reader). There are some obvious typos and some bad grammar (the use of disconnect "with" instead of disconnect "from", for example). The good doctor uses a slew of cliches sometimes even bringing home a point with a terrible allusion to something from popular culture. One example: there is one sentence referring to the lion kings being aware of the circle of life (maybe this was subtle product placement for the Disney movie). In another place he mentions how a clan would face extinction, which could be final. I wasn't aware of the non-final version of extinction.

As far as the content, Weisinger's thesis is that Mother Nature (whom he refers to sometimes as if it were an actual person) has endowed us with instincts that have helped us survive for all this millenia. Because these instincts have brought us succesfully to where we are today, we should become familiar with them and use them to our advantage. This logic holds up well; however, Weisinger's presentation of evidence to support this is often very speculative, running something like this: since this instinct seems to work today, it must have worked in the past to get our ancestors out of some pickle or to help in the process of natural selection of certain traits (and those who exhibit them) over others. He then conjures up (not "conjectures up", as Weisinger often writes) some very detailed scenario of what must have happened and how. Dr. Weisinger must have had access to some primitive Youtube application when researsching his book. It might have helped if Weisinger included references to actual studies and perhaps footnotes, since so many of his claims rely on other people's work.

On the positive side, perhaps the last fourth of the book or so, Weisinger's tale is a little stronger, with an excellent description of and prescription for how to apply novely to increase motivation and curiosity.

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Life-Changing book, April 29, 2009

By 

Simon Klebanow - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Genius of Instinct: Reclaim Mother Nature's Tools for Enhancing Your Health, Happiness, Family, and Work (Hardcover)

THE GENIUS OF INSTINCT is filled with pearls of wisdom and truth. This book served as a catalyst for me, I loved it. Dr. Weisinger is a great teacher who has profound yet deceptively simple insights that he shares in a wonderful and straight-forward way. Excellent, simple and clear.