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Why Everyone (Else) Is a Hypocrite: Evolution and the Modular Mind Paperback – May 27, 2012

4.3 out of 5 stars 52 customer reviews

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Product Details

  • Paperback: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Princeton University Press; Reprint edition (May 27, 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0691154392
  • ISBN-13: 978-0691154398
  • Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.7 x 9.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #196,174 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
"I" almost didn't purchase this book - what a serious mistake that would have been! Having read The Ego Tunnel: The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self by Philosopher Thomas Metzinger, I felt I was thoroughly acquainted with the notion that there is no self. Also, I have read: Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Behavioral Economist Dan Ariely, The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom by Psychologist Jonathan Haidt, and How the Mind Works by Psychologist Steven Pinker (all three cited by Kurzban). Now, I don't mean to name drop, I simply say that to say this: Why Everyone (Else) Is a Hypocrite is better. Yes, better.

Kurzban states in the Prologue, "This book is...an attempt to explain why we act the way we act, and, perhaps partly in our defense, to show that if we are wrong a lot, well, being right isn't everything. My argument is going to be that much, or at least some, of what makes us ignorant, mind-numbingly stupid - and hypocritical - is that we evolved to play many different kinds of strategic games with others, and our brains are built to exploit the fact that being knowledgeable, right, or morally consistent is not always to our advantage.
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Format: Hardcover
We're living in a world in which social scientists are able to study human behavior in incredibly clever ways--not the least of which is their ability to take pictures of the brain as it implements mysterious patterns of neural finding that somehow eventuate in your getting up to get a sandwich, posting or reading a book review, or letting your dog outside one last time before you head off to bed. But even with all of the clever experiments and pretty pictures of brains in action, most scientists who study complex social behavior couldn't begin--even on their best day--to explain to you how the brain might be structured so as to create behavior.

No matter what else turns out to be true about how the brain gives rise to mind, there is one cardinal principle to remember: The force that creates brains is natural selection, and natural selection operates exclusively by rewarding genes that give rise to good designs with a singular prize: More copies of themselves in the world, courtesy of sexual reproduction. What that means, above all, is that the structures that genes produce are in response to selection pressures that ancestral humans faced while our species was evolving. And there's no such thing as a "general selection pressure;" only specific ones. As a result, the structures in your head can't be general solutions. Whatever you've got up in your brain, then, is bound to be a collection of information-processing mechanisms for solving specific jobs.

Few other books are as effective as Kurzban's fine book at sketching the implications of this cardinal principle for our understanding of human mental life, so on that count alone this is a book worth reading.
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Format: Hardcover
This is an excellent book. Kurzban explains, using plenty of humorous examples, how evolution designed our minds one piece at a time (a concept called modularity), and how this explains important mysteries of the universe like why people lock their refrigerator doors at night. Ever had the feeling that part of you wants to finish the giant slice of cheesecake on your plate, and part of you is shrieking "no! no!" Kurzban explains that, in a certain sense, there really are two parts of you who are arguing over dessert, and that whether you devour it depends on which part gains control. There is plenty to learn and Kurzban leads you through with style.

Read on!
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Format: Paperback
CONTENT
The brain consists of a large number of modules and only a small subset is related to consciousness. He further argues that there can be no module in control of the other modules. The second half of the book elaborates on this theme. All based on evolutionary psychology even though that is not really the topic of the book.

This is an entry level book, because the author's argument is not complicated. The author is a psychologist, but the book's underlying message is deeply philosophical. After being stimulated, you can move on to more difficult material like Consciousness Explained.

STYLE
I dislike ghost writers that think readers are dumb-whits. This book is different. The text is not that smooth, but it is personal, quirky, and intelligent. So i am pretty sure the author has written the book himself. This is one pop-science book that is a real pleasure to read. But the author's joke are truly a bit corny :)

The author is not afraid of naming and critiquing other scholars that he does not agree with. This is extremely rare to witness and highly appreciated.

I really enjoyed both the content and the author's style. I only give five stars to something like 10% of the books I read. This is one of them.
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