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How Pleasure Works:
- The New Science of Why We Like What We Like
- Narrated by: Jeremy Johnson
- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
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Â
What does it mean to “be you” - that is, to have a specific, conscious experience of the world around you and yourself within it? There may be no more elusive or fascinating question. Historically, humanity has considered the nature of consciousness to be a primarily spiritual or philosophical inquiry, but scientific research is now mapping out compelling biological theories and explanations for consciousness and selfhood.Â
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2 out of 5 stars
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Publisher's Summary
Yale psychologist Paul Bloom presents a striking new vision of the pleasures of everyday life. The thought of sex with a virgin is intensely arousing for many men. The average American spends over four hours a day watching television. Abstract art can sell for millions of dollars. Young children enjoy playing with imaginary friends and can be comforted by security blankets. People slow their cars to look at gory accidents and go to movies that make them cry.
In this fascinating and witty account, Paul Bloom examines the science behind these curious desires, attractions, and tastes, covering everything from the animal instincts of sex and food to the uniquely human taste for art, music, and stories. Drawing on insights from child development, philosophy, neuroscience, and behavioural economics, How Pleasure Works shows how certain universal habits of the human mind explain what we like and why we like it.
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What listeners say about How Pleasure Works:
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Judy Corstjens
- 03-22-11
Brilliant
Explains so many everyday 'true' observations, and ties them into a logical structure through the concept of 'essentialism'. So many ideas about why we value certain things, how we spend our time, what motivates and incentivises humans, that this book will become part of the permanent furniture of my mind long after I've forgotten the name Paul Bloom.
11 people found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Damien Ward
- 06-02-20
loved it.
Bloom is a special talent with that unique skill of conveying difficult topics to the layman in an accessible and entertaining style.
1 person found this helpful
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-
Story4 out of 5 stars 46
Our species, it appears, is hardwired to get things wrong in myriad different ways. Why did recipients of a loan offer accept a higher rate of interest when a pretty woman's face was printed on the flyer? Why did one poll on immigration find the most despised aliens were ones from a group that did not exist? What made four of the Air Force's best pilots fly their planes, in formation, straight into the ground?
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5 out of 5 stars
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A tour de force
- By Ivan on 07-05-11
By: Michael Kaplan, and others
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Riveted
- The Science of Why Jokes Make Us Laugh, Movies Make Us Cry, and Religion Makes Us Feel One with the Universe
- By: Jim Davies
- Narrated by: Matthew Josdal
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 61
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 53
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Story4 out of 5 stars 51
Professor Jim Davies's fascinating and highly accessible book, Riveted, reveals the evolutionary underpinnings of why we find things compelling. Drawing on work from philosophy, anthropology, religious studies, psychology, economics, computer science, and biology, Davies offers a comprehensive explanation to show that in spite of the differences between the many things that we find compelling, they have similar effects on our minds and brains.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Fun and excellent listen!
- By Alejandro Franco on 04-13-18
By: Jim Davies
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Sex, Murder, and the Meaning of Life
- A Psychologist Investigates How Evolution, Cognition, and Complexity Are Revolutionizing Our View of Human Nature
- By: Douglas T. Kenrick
- Narrated by: Fred Stella
- Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 152
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 109
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Story4 out of 5 stars 105
Between what can be learned from evolutionary psychology and cognitive science a picture emerges. In Sex, Murder, and the Meaning of Life, social psychologist Douglas Kenrick fuses these two fields to create a coherent story of human nature. In his analysis, many ingrained, apparently irrational behaviors—one-night stands, prejudice, conspicuous consumption, even art and religious devotion—are quite explicable and (when desired) avoidable.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Rather dated and self-aggrandizing
- By Laurie Frick on 07-21-11
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The Mind Club
- Who Thinks, What Feels, and Why It Matters
- By: Daniel M. Wegner, Kurt Gray
- Narrated by: David Marantz
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 760
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 670
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 673
Nothing seems more real than the minds of other people. When you consider what your boss is thinking or whether your spouse is happy, you are admitting them into the "mind club". It's easy to assume other humans can think and feel, but what about a cow, a computer, a corporation? What kinds of minds do they have? Daniel M. Wegner and Kurt Gray are award-winning psychologists who have discovered that minds - while incredibly important - are a matter of perception.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Who is the self in me? Am I part of something bigger?
- By Philomath on 03-24-16
By: Daniel M. Wegner, and others
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You May Also Like
- Taste in an Age of Endless Choice
- By: Tom Vanderbilt
- Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 65
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 56
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Story4 out of 5 stars 54
Why is showing up to work wearing the same outfit as a coworker so embarrassing? Why do we venerate so many artists who were controversial or ignored during their lifetimes? What makes an ideal cat an ideal cat, or an ideal beer an ideal beer, in the eyes of expert judges? From the tangled underpinnings of our food taste to our unsettling insecurity before unfamiliar works of art to the complex dynamics of our playlists and the pop charts, our preferences and opinions are constantly being shaped by countless forces.
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3 out of 5 stars
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[Citation needed]
- By Isaac Lyman on 12-19-16
By: Tom Vanderbilt
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Stumbling on Happiness
- By: Daniel Gilbert
- Narrated by: Daniel Gilbert
- Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 4,402
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,726
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Story4 out of 5 stars 2,693
A smart and funny book by a prominent Harvard psychologist, which uses groundbreaking research and (often hilarious) anecdotes to show us why we're so lousy at predicting what will make us happy, and what we can do about it.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great Book!
- By TL on 06-09-06
By: Daniel Gilbert
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The Belief Instinct
- The Psychology of Souls, Destiny, and the Meaning of Life
- By: Jesse Bering
- Narrated by: Jesse Bering
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 100
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 88
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 85
Why is belief so hard to shake? Despite our best attempts to embrace rational thought and reject superstition, we often find ourselves appealing to unseen forces that guide our destiny, wondering who might be watching us as we go about our lives, and imagining what might come after death. In this lively and masterfully argued new book, Jesse Bering unveils the psychological underpinnings of why we believe.
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5 out of 5 stars
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engaging and insightful
- By juliagee on 01-02-15
By: Jesse Bering
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The Ape That Understood the Universe: How the Mind and Culture Evolve
- By: Steve Stewart-Williams
- Narrated by: Tom Lawrence
- Length: 15 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 249
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 214
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Story5 out of 5 stars 213
The Ape That Understood the Universe is the story of the strangest animal in the world: the human animal. It opens with a question: How would an alien scientist view our species? What would it make of our sex differences, our sexual behavior, our child-rearing patterns, our moral codes, our religions, our languages, and science? The book tackles these issues by drawing on ideas from two major schools of thought: evolutionary psychology and cultural evolutionary theory.Â
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5 out of 5 stars
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Seven Evolutionary Theories U Can't Say On Campus
- By Than on 09-18-20
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How the Mind Works
- By: Steven Pinker
- Narrated by: Mel Foster
- Length: 26 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,581
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 1,290
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Story4 out of 5 stars 1,269
In this delightful, acclaimed bestseller, one of the world’s leading cognitive scientists tackles the workings of the human mind. What makes us rational—and why are we so often irrational? How do we see in three dimensions? What makes us happy, afraid, angry, disgusted, or sexually aroused? Why do we fall in love? And how do we grapple with the imponderables of morality, religion, and consciousness?
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4 out of 5 stars
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Excellent, but a difficult listen.
- By David Roseberry on 12-11-11
By: Steven Pinker
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Perv
- The Sexual Deviant in All of Us
- By: Jesse Bering
- Narrated by: Jesse Bering
- Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 432
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 392
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 389
In his eye-opening new book, Perv, the award-winning columnist and psychologist Jesse Bering argues that we are all sexual deviants on one level or another. As Bering takes us into the lives of a woman who falls madly in love with the Eiffel Tower, a young man addicted to seductive sneezes, and a pair of deeply affectionate identical twins, among others, he challenges us to move beyond our judgments and attitudes toward "deviant" sex and consider the alternative: What would happen if we rise above our fears and revulsions and accepted our true natures?
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fantastic!
- By Matthew on 11-09-13
By: Jesse Bering
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The 7 Laws of Magical Thinking
- How Irrational Beliefs Keep Us Happy, Healthy, and Sane
- By: Matthew Hutson
- Narrated by: Matthew Hutson, Don Hagen
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 59
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 47
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Story4 out of 5 stars 47
In this witty and perceptive debut, a former editor at Psychology Today shows us how magical thinking makes life worth living. Psychologists have documented a litany of cognitive biases and explained their positive functions. Now, Matthew Hutson shows us that even the most hardcore skeptic indulges in magical thinking all the time - and it's crucial to our survival. Drawing on evolution, cognitive science, and neuroscience, Hutson shows us that magical thinking has been so useful to us that it's hardwired into our brains.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Highly enjoyable
- By David R Pinsof on 05-01-12
By: Matthew Hutson
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We Are All Stardust
- Scientists Who Shaped Our World Talk about Their Work, Their Lives, and What They Still Want to Know
- By: Stefan Klein
- Narrated by: Gildart Jackson, Simon Vance, Kate Reading, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 202
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 175
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 174
When acclaimed science writer Stefan Klein asks Nobel Prize-winning chemist Roald Hoffmann what sets scientists apart, Hoffmann says, "First and foremost, curiosity." In this collection of intimate conversations with 19 of the world's best-known scientists (including three Nobel Laureates), Klein lets us listen in as today's leading minds reveal what they still hope to discover - and how their paradigm-changing work entwines with their lives outside the lab.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Great People, Great Science, Great Scientists
- By Philomath on 05-17-16
By: Stefan Klein
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Turned On
- Science, Sex and Robots
- By: Kate Devlin
- Narrated by: Kate Devlin
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 47
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 42
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Story4 out of 5 stars 43
Sexual activity is central to our very existence; it shapes how we think, how we act and how we live. With advances in technology come machines that may one day think independently. What will happen to us when we form close relationships with these intelligent systems? Sex robots are here and here to stay, and more are coming. This audiobook explores how the emerging and future development of sexual companion robots might affect us and the society in which we live. It explores the social changes arising from emerging technologies and our relationships with the machines that may someday care for us and about us.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Nuanced, Smart, and Compassionate
- By Karen on 01-20-19
By: Kate Devlin
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Before You Know It
- The Unconscious Reasons We Do What We Do
- By: John Bargh PhD
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 143
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 126
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 126
For more than three decades, Dr. John Bargh has been responsible for the revolutionary research into the unconscious mind, research that informed best sellers like Blink and Thinking Fast and Slow. Now, in what Dr. John Gottman said "will be the most important and exciting book in psychology that has been written in the past 20 years", Dr. Bargh takes us on an entertaining and enlightening tour of the forces that affect everyday behavior while transforming our understanding of ourselves in profound ways.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Political jab
- By Brad on 10-20-17
By: John Bargh PhD
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The Social Animal
- The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement
- By: David Brooks
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 16 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,688
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,164
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,162
This is the story of how success happens. It is told through the lives of one composite American couple, Harold and Erica - how they grow, push forward, are pulled back, fail, and succeed. Distilling a vast array of information into these two vividly realized characters, Brooks illustrates a fundamental new understanding of human nature.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Finally!
- By Pamela Harvey on 03-13-11
By: David Brooks
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The Meme Machine
- By: Susan Blackmore, Richard Dawkins - foreword
- Narrated by: Esther Wane
- Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 60
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 53
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 52
First coined by Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene, a meme is any idea, behavior, or skill that can be transferred from one person to another by imitation. Susan Blackmore shows that once our distant ancestors acquired the crucial ability to imitate, a second kind of natural selection began, a survival of the fittest amongst competing ideas and behaviors. Ideas and behaviors that proved most adaptive-making tools, for example, or using language - survived and flourished, replicating themselves in as many minds as possible.
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4 out of 5 stars
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memes are gut bacteria, not godlike puppet masters
- By Hans Thieme on 02-14-22
By: Susan Blackmore, and others