My Reading Experiment (Book #2) - Sublimal
Target: 100 books
Current: 2 books
I figured if I'm going to read a lot of books this year, I might as well make the most of it. I will be making a conscious effort to read as eclectic a bunch of books as possible. In that spirit, here's book two.
#2
Subliminal How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior
- Leonard Mlodinow
Liked It, Non-fiction, Interesting, Factual, Lots of case studies
When friends visit me in New York, I have this habit of taking them to one of my favourite places in the city: Strand Book Store. Invariably, we end up buying one or more books. On one such trip my friend decided to pick up this book. Although it piqued my interest, especially with its witty cover, I decided I didn't want it for myself. The rest of the long weekend played out, and then everyone went back to their own lives. A few weeks later, sometime around my birthday, I received an unexpected package: a second hand book. My friend had sent me his book saying he'd enjoyed it, and that he thought I would too. Now I don't know about other people, but for me, the joy of receiving a well meant second hand (or third hand) book is right up there with the best of them.
The first thing I noticed about Subliminal once I delved into it, was the credentials of the author Leonard Mlodinow. That encouraged me to go on. After all, a theoretical physicist who has co-authored a book with Stephen Hawking could not possibly attempt to lead me astray with holey theories. And I wasn't disappointed. The book talks about a new unconscious, a gentle and intelligent unconscious, quite different from Freud's angry and hallucinatory unconscious. There are tons of case studies that prove how the unconscious in us manipulates the decisions we think we make consciously. We are shown how our senses and memory can easily be deceived, and how they often are. Social groups, feelings, and the concept of self are also explored. The book raises legitimate concerns that should have us questioning the validity of judicial systems worldwide.
What I liked most about the book were the different case studies and their findings. So much so, that I'm now waiting to receive my red-cyan 3D glasses by mail, so that I can try out one of the experiments mentioned in there. That the author employs a somewhat humorous style of writing as opposed to taking a more pedantic approach helps with the reading. I should know, because I have abandoned books with interesting content in the past, only because I couldn't sit through the writing.
"'So, if Joey jumped into a volcano, would you do it, too?' Now, decades later, I realize I should have said, 'Yeah, Mom. Studies show that I would.'"
Current: 2 books
I figured if I'm going to read a lot of books this year, I might as well make the most of it. I will be making a conscious effort to read as eclectic a bunch of books as possible. In that spirit, here's book two.
#2
Subliminal How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior
- Leonard Mlodinow
Liked It, Non-fiction, Interesting, Factual, Lots of case studies
When friends visit me in New York, I have this habit of taking them to one of my favourite places in the city: Strand Book Store. Invariably, we end up buying one or more books. On one such trip my friend decided to pick up this book. Although it piqued my interest, especially with its witty cover, I decided I didn't want it for myself. The rest of the long weekend played out, and then everyone went back to their own lives. A few weeks later, sometime around my birthday, I received an unexpected package: a second hand book. My friend had sent me his book saying he'd enjoyed it, and that he thought I would too. Now I don't know about other people, but for me, the joy of receiving a well meant second hand (or third hand) book is right up there with the best of them.
The first thing I noticed about Subliminal once I delved into it, was the credentials of the author Leonard Mlodinow. That encouraged me to go on. After all, a theoretical physicist who has co-authored a book with Stephen Hawking could not possibly attempt to lead me astray with holey theories. And I wasn't disappointed. The book talks about a new unconscious, a gentle and intelligent unconscious, quite different from Freud's angry and hallucinatory unconscious. There are tons of case studies that prove how the unconscious in us manipulates the decisions we think we make consciously. We are shown how our senses and memory can easily be deceived, and how they often are. Social groups, feelings, and the concept of self are also explored. The book raises legitimate concerns that should have us questioning the validity of judicial systems worldwide.
What I liked most about the book were the different case studies and their findings. So much so, that I'm now waiting to receive my red-cyan 3D glasses by mail, so that I can try out one of the experiments mentioned in there. That the author employs a somewhat humorous style of writing as opposed to taking a more pedantic approach helps with the reading. I should know, because I have abandoned books with interesting content in the past, only because I couldn't sit through the writing.
"'So, if Joey jumped into a volcano, would you do it, too?' Now, decades later, I realize I should have said, 'Yeah, Mom. Studies show that I would.'"
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