Subliminal

How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior

By: Leonard Mlodinow

Narrated by: Leonard Mlodinow

Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

Leonard Mlodinow, the best-selling author of The Drunkard’s Walk and coauthor of The Grand Design (with Stephen Hawking), gives us a startling and eye-opening examination of how the unconscious mind shapes our experience of the world and how, for instance, we often misperceive our relationships with family, friends, and business associates, misunderstand the reasons for our investment decisions, and misremember important events.

Your preference in politicians, the amount you tip your waiter - all judgments and perceptions reflect the workings of our mind on two levels: the conscious, of which we are aware, and the unconscious, which is hidden from us. The latter has long been the subject of speculation, but over the past two decades researchers have developed remarkable new tools for probing the hidden, or subliminal, workings of the mind. The result of this explosion of research is a new science of the unconscious and a sea change in our understanding of how the subliminal mind affects the way we live.

Employing his trademark wit and lucid, accessible explanations of the most obscure scientific subjects, Leonard Mlodinow takes us on a tour of this research, unraveling the complexities of the subliminal self and increasing our understanding of how the human mind works and how we interact with friends, strangers, spouses, and coworkers. In the process he changes our view of ourselves and the world around us.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2012 Leonard Mlodinow (P)2012 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Mlodinow never fails to make science both accessible and entertaining.” (Stephen Hawking, author of A Brief History of Time)

“Think you know the whys and hows of your choices? Follow Mlodinow on a gorgeous journey that will make you think again.” (David Eagleman, author of Incognito)

Only read if you’re interested in knowing yourself better

Can a scientist present a thorough examination of the illusion of introspective awareness with great humor and a positive conclusion about what to do about it? Yes, and this is that book.

Fun but . . . .

Where does Subliminal rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Overall, an entertaining treatment of the subject matter, but some of the anecdotes/science tidbits i had read in other books (e.g., David Eagleman's "Incognito"), and the total read was not as cohesive or wow-ing as Mlodinow's "Drunkard's Walk" (which i really enjoyed).

What’s an idea from the book that you will remember?

"theory of mind" - very interesting. i look forward to learning more about it.

Very enlightening

I have read a couple books about your unconscious mind and this one was well done, with interesting and thought provoking research studies. I learned more than I expected and would recommend this to anyone who has an interest in research based finding vs people's opinions

Accurate and eye opening, but dull and boring

The book attempts to deliver complex Cognitive phenomena to a general audience, but lacks the humor this discipline requires.

Good read

Was a good read overall. Narration was good as well. Definitely recommend this audiobook.

Entertaining and educational

Gets better as it goes on. The examples, study results and jokes are well chosen to keep the book entertaining and the points memorable.

Subliminal by Mlodinow

If you could sum up Subliminal in three words, what would they be?

Lots of examples.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Subliminal?

Hard to nail down the most memorable moment. Collectively, the moments illustrated the authors intention of showing how important the subconscious is determining most of our decisions. Individually, the moments ran on from one to the next and on to the next and on to the next. There were so many references to tests and their results that I began to lose focus. Still, I was glad I listened to it. I'm better informed on how little control I have in my conscious thought.

Have you listened to any of Leonard Mlodinow’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not listened to any other Mlodinow's books.

What’s an idea from the book that you will remember?

My conscious thought is greatly influenced by my subconscious.

Informative piece, lots and lots of sudies quoted

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Yes, the information is valuable in understanding how others can manipulate our choices.

What could Leonard Mlodinow have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

I liked that he read it himself.

Was Subliminal worth the listening time?

Yes, it was valuable in how the mind works, and how we remember our own experiences compared to others experiencing the same thing.It may not answer all the questions about ones self but it's a good portion of the puzzle of how we think we are thinking.

This book profoundly improved my life.

If I had to recommend only one book to anyone who isn't a neuroscientist, this would be it.

good insight

loved the book, not a fan of the performance/reading - realize it's read by th author, but was a tough listen for me (he did a good job of voice modulation but he's got a slight lisp and doesn't have clear annunciation when transitioning between certain sounds, so I had to go back and re-listen to several sentences).

think the author did a great job of diving just get enough into certain aspects without getting off track. felt I came away with several new insights across a broad range of examples.