Mind Wars: The Battle for Your Brain [Paperback]

Ian McFadyen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2001

Develops the suggestion that ideas can be transmitted across societies and generations and are subject to natural selection in the same way as are physical characteristics, a concept first proposed by Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ian McFadyen was born in Melbourne. He attended Melbourne High School where, although his initial love was science, he began to develop an interest in literature and film. He went on to study Arts, Education and Criminology at Melbourne University where he also became involved in theatre and film-making. Following university he worked as a social worker and a teacher before moving into theatre and television as an actor, director and producer. In the 1980's, he formed his own television production company, producing, among other things, the hugely popular series The Comedy Company, which created a boom in Australian television comedy. Since that time Ian McFadyen had dedicated himself to scriptwriting, teaching young film-makers and writing about entertainment, mass media and the new technologies. He now lives in Brisbane.

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Allen & Unwin (August 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 186508316X
• ISBN-13: 978-1865083162
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,752,015 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars On indoctrination, August 10, 2005

By 

ostawookiee "ostawookiee" (Winston-Salem, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Mind Wars: The Battle for Your Brain (Paperback)

Mindwars reads like a how-to guide to forming a new religion or anti-establishment revolution, even with numbered steps. McFadyen likens the spread of doctrines (and really ideas) to the spread of viruses and the coopting of DNA replication. He shows how religious/political/scientific movements can take hold of people. To his credit, he seems to be equally critical of all three of those subject areas. The only real great leap he takes over meme theory, is that he sees the human as a vehicle for the spread of (what he claims is) the superior lifeform that is the doctrine/tenet; superior simply because it "controls us" and we're the dominant species.

Regardless, the way he shows how religion/science/politics go about convincing people their way is right, and how he shows why some people refuse to change their point of view, can be helpful for determining an approach for combating those situations.

8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Logical Positivism Through a Glass Darkly, July 18, 2001

By 

[e-mail] (NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mind Wars: The Battle for Your Brain (Paperback)

I found this book to be a summary of much that has already been said on the subject of memetic theory with very little to add. The author has come up with a neologism ("tenetics") to semantically distance his thoughts from what has come before but fails to deliver any convincingly original material.

Memetic theorists have latched onto an intoxicating and seemingly powerful way of looking at the world but many have become frustrated at the lack of empirical rigour to back up their musings and myths. Much compelling speculation and story telling comes from the world of memetic theory and neo-darwinism, flavoured with a scientific outlook but sadly lacking ground to stand on.

Unfortunately, this author has not the humility to doubt his own speculations and presses on with the certainty of a blinkered logical positivist and as if Kant never existed. Many of the authors illustrative examples demonstrate an easy arrogance derived from the beating up of straw men. The straw men are shallow and pale parodies of academic, scientific and religious thought systems and the author has not attempted to engage their higher expressions.

The author sneers at thought systems relying on untested or untestable assumptions and yet humorously fails to see the metaphysical basis for his own "objective" world view. The book gets 2 stars for entertainment value and well written passages.

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Honestly Changed My Life, March 16, 2008

By 

Mathew Gregg "JitterBob" (Lawrenceville, Ga U.SA.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mind Wars: The Battle for Your Brain (Paperback)

You might think it stange for me to say a book like this could change tmy life. Honestly though My thinking is changed and I feel as though my eyes have me let go and I had let myself slip deeper into understanding things. It is a very interesting book that anyone can undertsand. It presents a new consept and new perspective on how thoughts, consepts, ideas, and tenets are transmitted from person to person and survive as virus (the only both living and nonliving thing in existance besides God).