How the Mind Works

By: Steven Pinker

Narrated by: Mel Foster

Length: 26 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

In this delightful, acclaimed best seller, 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?

How the Mind Works synthesizes the most satisfying explanations of our mental life from cognitive science, evolutionary biology, and other fields to explain what the mind is, how it evolved, and how it allows us to see, think, feel, laugh, interact, enjoy the arts, and contemplate the mysteries of life. This new edition of Pinker’s bold and buoyant classic is updated with a new foreword by the author.

©2011 Steven Pinker (P)2011 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Undeniably brilliant.” ( Newsday)

"Big, brash, and a lot of fun.” ( Time)

“Hugely entertaining.... always sparkling and provoking.” ( Wall Street Journal)

Lots of information

Mr. Pinker brings mind numbing detail on the the mind works. It was worth all 24 plus hours of listening.

Loved it

Would you listen to How the Mind Works again? Why?

Yes, there's. Lot in here, some 25 hours worth of listening, and I want to come ack and listen to some things again!

What was one of the most memorable moments of How the Mind Works?

The development of the sexual brain the differences in the sexual mind was very interesting indeed. It's easy to forget out behaviour and preferences were actually established during our extended hunter gatherer lifestyle, and how this fashioned our behaviour from an evolutionary perspective

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

Easy to listen to. Always run at 1.5x

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Certainly made me think.

Any additional comments?

Love Steven Pinker, and would like to just read more. It's so refreshing to hear all the concepts related back to actual studies! I enjoyed this as much as the Blank Slate, possibly more.

Very Very Insightful

Most chapters are brilliant, however a few are far too technical to understand at first go. But definitely very insightful.

Brilliant

Narrator took some time to grow on me. but I eventually got used to it. Overall a great insightful book. well done Pinker.

a fantastic introduction to the architecture of mi

great thought provoking content, though the delivery is a bit flat. highly recommend go read it

Brain explosion in a book

It's 5:40am and I just finished the book. As sad as I am that the wondrous journey is over, there is still so much more I would like to understand now.

Amazing book

Would you consider the audio edition of How the Mind Works to be better than the print version?

Without a doubt the most amazing book I have ever come across. Brilliant mind who can communicate his thoughts clearly and backs up his ideas with data.

HOW THE MIND WORKS

“How the Mind Works” delves into the process of thought; i.e. how it is tied to an evolutionary process and how it is common to all humans but emotively different in males and females.

In completing Steven Pinker’s book, it seems that some mind modules are inherited and others are learned. What seems puzzling is why Pinker suggests that the evolution of man and the way the mind works is near an end rather than a beginning or mid-point. Humankind has gotten this far through adaptive evolution, why will adaptation not continue to evolve? With a changing environment, it seems logical to believe that the human species will either adapt or parish, and knowing which will happen, is probabilistically unknowable. Are we headed for dystopia and extinction, utopia and eternal life, or happiness and a fulfilled life?

A comprehensive, excellent read

Where does How the Mind Works rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

How the Mind Works is one of the best popular science books I have ever read. I enjoyed it even more than The Blank Slate (which was written later, but I happened to read it before).

What did you like best about this story?

The book is very well written and the audio is very well read.

What about Mel Foster’s performance did you like?

Superb reading.

Enjoyed the blank slate more, but a top book to understanding how humanity is not and is very special at the same time.

Great read. I was more engaged with his book, The Blank Slate. But still found this book very informative. Just not as polished. I would really have liked Steven to have gone into the specifics of many of the studies he quoted. I felt like he stopped short of truly explaining “how” an experiment or study showed what it did. Hopefully someday he does an update or expanded version of the same subject.