Kluge: The Haphazard Evolution of the Human Mind

Kluge: The Haphazard Evolution of the Human MindHow is it that we can recognize photos from our high school yearbook decades later, but cannot remember what we ate for breakfast yesterday? And why are we inclined to buy more cans of soup if the sign says LIMIT 12 PER CUSTOMER rather than LIMIT 4 PER CUSTOMER? In Kluge, Gary Marcus argues convincingly that our minds are not as elegantly designed as we may believe. The imperfections result from a haphazard evolutionary process that often proceeds by

How is it that we can recognize photos from our high school yearbook decades later, but cannot remember what we ate for breakfast yesterday? And why are we inclined to buy more cans of soup if the sign says LIMIT 12 PER CUSTOMER rather than LIMIT 4 PER CUSTOMER? In Kluge, Gary Marcus argues convincingly that our minds are not as elegantly designed as we may believe. The imperfections result from a haphazard evolutionary process that often proceeds by piling new systems on top of old ones--and those systems don't always work well together. The end product is a kluge, a clumsy, cobbled-together contraption. Taking us on a tour of the essential areas of human experience--memory, belief, decision making, language, and happiness--Marcus unveils a fundamentally new way of looking at the evolution of the human mind and simultaneously sheds light on some of the most mysterious aspects of human nature.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Mariner Books
Published: 04/07/2009
ISBN: 9780547238241
Pages: 211
Weight: 0.45lbs
Size: 7.90h x 5.20w x 0.60d

Review Citations: New York Times Book Review 05/17/2009 pg. 20