Customer Reviews

Why We Feel: The Science of Human Emotion

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3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
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Wow. I am what could be described as a "slacker" with "some college", but I enjoy reading books about science, particularly those that aim to explain why things are the way they are...I picked up "Why we Feel" because it seemed like an interesting topic. As a matter of fact, the guy at the counter read the tile and commented "That's a good question!". I feel that this is a book everybody should read. It gives so much insight into who we are that I feel truly thankful that I read it. Feelings. What would life be without them? As the author argues, there would be no point to life at all.

This book goes a long way to answering questions like why do some things feel good and others feel bad? I would sum it up thus: There is, in reality, no point for life to exist. So, emotions are nature's way of motivating us to keep on living! When you do something that will increase your chances of reproducing, you feel good. This includes falling in love, having sex, gaining resources such as food or shelter, etc. As an example on how a negative emotion helps you live, consider if you were a cave man and you found a bone with a particular size and shape that allowed you to beat up your enemies and kill animals for food. If you lost this tool one day, you would feel deep sadness. This negative feeling would be nature punishing you for losing a valuable resource that increases your chances for survival. The author explains how emotions evolved, and other concepts such as why we consider certain characteristics as "beautiful" and certain tastes as good are really just nature's way of steering us towards what we need to reproduce.

The book is short and completely free of fluff or egotistical rambling. The author writes extremely well and keeps a nice constant pace throughout. I read this book in two sittings and will re-read it many times I'm sure. As a non-scientist I found it slightly dense at times, but it's short and interesting enough to re-read. I recommend this book to anyone who is curious about why things are the way they are. If you want to learn about life, not just Human life, but your dog and animals as well, this is a wonderful book. You'll never look at yourself or other people the same way again after being exposed to what modern science has to say about the origin and purpose of human emotions. I will definately buy his next book, if there is one.

Johnston is extremely convincing in his explanation of how pleasant and unpleasant sensations evolved. For example, he explains that the pleasant sensation of "sweetness" is not a property of sugar molecules, but an illusion of the brain that emerged through natural selection because sugar is a great source of energy. Using persuasive reasoning he explains such things as why rotten eggs smell bad, why tissue damage causes the illusion of pain, and why we feel complex emotions such as love and sadness. This book is a great read that may just challenge your entire view of reality.

The 1st chapter in this book is entitled 'The Grand Illusion.' This is not some pessimistic assessment of the human condition, like we've all been fooling ourselves for naught all the long; this is merely the same caveat that the likes of the ancient Buhddists, the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (himself often accused of pessimism), and modern science writer Torr Norretranders have also elucidated: namely, we're sort of idealistic in how we process what we perceive to be the external (and internal) world. It's not so very egregious that we're like a bunch of asylum escapees, hallucinating some vastly inaccurate version of a reality we can never hope to know, it's just that neither are we ice cold observers of an objectively understandable interaction between our organismal selves and reality. It's a subtle distinction but one well worth knowing. Dr. Johnston does such a good job of delineating this concept that I had to rate this book the maximum of 5 stars. It is even more germane that he does so in the context of evolutionary psychology by stating that we, evolved primates that we are, did not nor did we need to evolve an ability to perceive and understand reality directly; that would have been nice and all, but what we did, and by virtue of it having happened, what we needed to accomplish was some means by which to survive and leave offspring in the field (remember, the way things are is no endorsement of any normative value for or against). Not only do we perceive and process reality in very creative ways, but we also color the heck out of it to squeeze the maximum utility out of it, hence, sugar (high quality nutrient) is sweet and good, and sharp teeth and gutteral growling sounds (the theme of not a few scary, supernatural movies) are bad, nay, downright evil! Thus, by the very acts of perceiving and cognizing, do we add and embellish hedonic tone to our experience. In general, this book is a good cummulative grouping of modern cognitive science research findings sans the fluff. It's too bad Daniel Dennett has already claimed the title "Consciousness Explained" and Steven Pinker "How the Mind Works." Either title would have suited Dr. Johnston's work very well.

Aristotle said, "Personal beauty is a greater recommendation than any letter of introduction." Research and writings about beauty, attraction, and love have always caught my attention. Much of what I have read over the years has failed terribly. In fact the American, Samuel Johnson, wrote to a writer seeking his blessing, "Your manuscript is both good and original. Unfortunately the part which is good is not original and the part which is origial is not good." Having read far too much dribble on beauty, attraction, and mating strategies, it pleased me to read a book cover to cover that was both original and good. I was not only intrigued by Johnston's work but found myself learning much. I dare say the observant consumer and reader might indeed learn some strategies to better "compete in the world of men and women." There was one additional bonus as well. Unlike many trade books these days that barely have little more than 15 pages of useful information, Johnston's book is a tightly packed gem of page after page of interesting data, presented in a nice writing prose that is enjoyable as it is readable. From one scholar to another: Bravo!

Dr. J. Davis Mannino, Professor of Psychology, Author: Sexually Speaking (McGraw-Hill, 1999)

I thought this book was going to talk more about specific emotions and why they are necessary for evolution and survival. It's actually a technical cog-sci evolution book, and somewhat disappointing. The last chapter summarizes what Johnston says in a complicated, redundant way for the rest of the book. The strong points are: his explanations of evolutionary opportunism, how evolution works, his "face prints" computer program, and the various computer models that simulate selection and genetics. His thesis is that the brain structures that allow emotions have evolved because they aided survival and thus gene reproduction. The feelings we have today were therefore necessary in ancestral environments, though not necessarily in modern environments. He also discusses the role of learning (which allows us to adapt to changing environments). Also interesting, his presentation of sensations and emotions, not as realities in the outside world (there is no "redness", only light waves), but as brain-created realities which don't necessarily mirror reality accurately, but in fact amplify some things to aid survival. I wonder if Jared Diamond does it better in The Third Chimpanzee?

This book does what would have seemed impossible in 200 pages: coordinates the findings of two decades on emotion & consciousness under an evolutionary framework. Johnston is at once succinct, cogent and accessible; his originality shows both in the choice of example and in the way he's developed his ideas and those of others into a consistent theory. The fundamental assertion,that biology has dictated the conditions and ultimate rationale for emotion, fuses the now-classic research of Antonio Damasio with an evolutionary paradigm introduced by Henry Plotkin. Then, building upon both 'dry' and 'wet' cognitive science, it goes on to illustrate the essentiality and relevance of emotion, answering quite a few 'intractable' issues of consciousness on the way. Johnston is never promotional, and never strains for effect. Though he pays proper attention to his sources, his originality is manifest in the ways in which he fleshes out what would otherwise be a dense set of ideas. This book, then, illustrates a happy coalescence of scholarship and style. One looks forward to its eventual expansion into a comprehensive tome; but, for the moment, it may be read with pleasure & benefit by neophyte and expert alike.

The core of this book is a few chapters on the evolutionary benefit of emotion. I found the theory rich and convincing, and the writing clear; the theory explains, for example, why one emotion (positive or negative) evolved into multiple emotions, each related to a different aspect of gene survival, such as satisfying hunger, finding a mate, etc. Johnston's theory of emotion is a special application of a more general theory of consciousness. The rest of the book is kind of a grab bag. Johnston devotes too much space to refuting an alternative theory of human consciousness which he never adequately explains, and I suspect he is creating a straw man to argue against. There are a few chapters devoted to Johnson's own simulations and special interests, and a quick review of evolutionary processes in general. The review may be too quick for the unfamiliar reader. The simulations involve genetic algorithms and neural networks. I found the discussion of the former clear, but I was already familiar with the topic. I am also somewhat familiar with neural networks, and the book is inadequate here: Johnson seems to despair of explaining neural networks in a simple way, so kind of assumes the reader already understands them. Outside of his special areas of expertise, Johnson may be prone to error. Certainly, he is unaware of all the research on the socialization skills of primates, and I suspect that some of his statements on early child development are overly simplified.. All in all, this was a five star book for me, but it may not be for others with different backgrounds, either because they know less than me, or know more than me.

This book is simply superb. Very clearly and convincingly written. By demonstrating the importance of "hedonic tone" is decision making, the author lays the foundation for approaching our behavior in a new and illuminating way. Before reading Johnston's book the attraction of gambling always puzzled me. I understand it much better now even though the author does not discuss it in any detail! Highly recommended to anyone interested in why we do the many apparently illogical things we do.

This is the most inspiring book I read since a long time. Whereas I have never been that much impressed by evolutionary arguments in social behavior, this book gives an exciting perspective. In addition Johnston made evolutionary principles work in the form of some intriguing applications.

After reading a lot of impressively confusing material on consciousness and intentionality, it was a relief to read such a sound and sensible account. Johnston doesn't get caught in the presently unsolvable question of what is consciousness. Instead he asks, Why consciousness? And he shows how the way we feel about the world amounts to successful adaptations that make us better fit.