Why Choose This Book?: How We Make Decisions (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Why do we choose chocolate ice cream over vanilla ice cream? Why do we select one lover rather than another? Baylor University neuroscientist Montague (now a fellow at Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study) deftly marries psychology and neuroscience as he probes how we make choices. On one hand, decision making boils down to simple computation. Montague argues that our brains are efficient computational machines. But unlike computers, our brains fix on the goals of survival and reproduction, realizing that every hasty decision can be costly to the survival of the species. Our brains also harbor experiences (memories) that foster the choices we make. On the other hand, we can make choices that go against survival: for instance, we can choose to die for an idea. Why is that? Because, says Montague, human computations involve valuation, choosing between one value and another, requiring computation of cultural and psychological qualities. Although the notion of the brain as a computational machine can be traced at least as far back as Descartes, Montague adds new ideas to our understanding of how our brains compute. But his sometimes engaging and sometimes plodding book doesn't always explain the complex science for general readers. (Nov.)
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Review

[Montague is] an expert on mental function and the brain. -- The New York Times

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Adult (November 2, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525949828
• ISBN-13: 978-0525949824
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #124,696 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars neuroscience plus a lot more, December 16, 2006

By	doug (Florida) - See all my reviews

This is an excellent account of various closely related concepts in modern computational neuroscience, communicating to non-mathematical readers key theories such as predictive error signals and the dopamine system, temporal difference theory, cognitive control, neuroeconomics etc, testable in humans using behavioural and neuroimaging methods. As a philosopher observed, this approach hog-ties old philosophical dogmas. Indeed its a valuable antidote to philosophy, and unlike millennia of philosophical effort (including Satre), this approach is making very active progress. Highly recommended.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars how mind evolves with interactions., February 24, 2007

By	Sreeram Ramakrishnan (Yorktown Heights, NY) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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In a mostly engaging technical look at the decision making mechanisms within the human mind and its evolution, Montague explores what the characteristics of an efficient computational machine are, primarily within the confines of Turing's 'philosophy'. Specifically, the book explains the how mind evolves through interactions and the notions of how we frame the value of choices available to us and how we assign costs to these choices. Covering disparate topics such as computational theory of mind, neuromodulatory systems, dopamine delivery, Redish's model, etc., the author paints a detailed picture of the various critical research directions that have enables us to understand the functioning of the human mind.

The book is not an easy-read in terms of the depth of the material covered (no reputable author would try to dumb this material down to a Cliff's note version). The discussion is mostly engaging, though sometimes, the topics change quite abruptly. The chapters do not necessarily seem to be seamlessly transitioned, and it would have served the reader, if the author summarized the main observations more clearly in each chapter. Despite these minor irritations, the book is a treasure trove for anyone interested in this field, though may not be sufficient for a serious student in this field. The end notes are well organized and detailed. An excellent read for a patient, curious reader. 4.5 stars

34 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Is consciousness binary?, November 6, 2006

By	Steve Reina (Troy Michigan) - See all my reviews

Some books are important for the discussions they start.

Although probably Montague himself would admit that many of his insights appeared in earlier (and maybe even better) works, what is novel here is a popularized work that seriously discusses human consciousness in connection with Turing reasoning.

For those not up on their Allan Turing, he was one of the Betchly Park genuises who helped the allies beat the Germans by decoding enigma during World War II. When not decoding enigma, Turing (himself an enigma) devoted attention to the nature of human imagination and cognition.

And according to Turing, the solution for the problem dogging centuries of philosophers was easy. Decision making ultimately could be resolved as the discrete repetitive choice of one option over another. To take a somewhat easy example, let's solve 1 minus 0. First you take a one then you remove zero from it and you get a solution. Turing reasoned that using something called Boolian algebra that the one and the zero could be rendered as binary choices and thereby made part of a larger algorithm for problem solving.

What Montague does in his book is to marry Turing decision making with human emotion to add an additional ingredient to all human decisions...that is, an emotional component which explains our (all too often) propensities toward illogic.

In this way (and this is the significant thing Montague does), Montague convincingly makes the argument that though emotionally grounded, human decision making remains nonetheless binary and therefore subject to algorithmic tracking.