The Human Mind

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

Are you a human? Do you have a mind? Then this book is for you.

'The story of the human mind as told by psychology's best storyteller' DANIEL GILBERT

Nothing is more familiar and yet less understood than the human mind. It defines the experience of being human, and yet its workings contain some of the deepest mysteries ever encountered. Written by one of the world's greatest teachers of psychology, The Human Mind provides a masterful and riveting guide to all that we have learned since modern science began probing those mysteries.

How does a three-pound lump of grey-ish meat give rise to conscious experience?
What is the function of emotions such as disgust, gratitude and shame?
How do our biases affect us and how can we overcome them?
How does the mind of a child differ from that of an adult?
How does memory work? What causes mental illness?
Are we rational? Are we all a little bit racist?
What makes us kind? What makes us cruel?
What makes us happy?

Many of these questions now have answers; many others don't yet; many widely accepted theories are probably wrong. This book takes us to the very limits of what is known. It shines new light on all that you take most for granted: everything you think and feel, everything you say and do, everything that makes you you.

'An extraordinary book that absolutely delivers on its sweeping ambitions ... like having the mind's complexities untangled by a witty, eloquent and deeply knowledgeable friend' OLIVER BURKEMAN
©2023 Paul Bloom (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critics Review

  • An extraordinary book that absolutely delivers on its sweeping ambitions. Every chapter here – on topics ranging from Freud to the mysteries of consciousness, from intergroup conflict to the meaning of life – feels like having the mind’s complexities untangled by a witty, eloquent and deeply knowledgeable friend

    OLIVER BURKEMAN, author of Four Thousand Weeks

  • Essential reading for anyone who has wondered why people do, feel, and think what they do. Paul Bloom is that rarest of experts – able to tell a story, make it practical, and yet faithfully capture the complexity and nuance of the latest research

    ANGELA DUCKWORTH, author of Grit

  • This book is a gem. Insightful, accessible, witty and provocative in the best sense, it presents state-of-the art science and its controversies in an even-handed manner. A wonderful book, whether for a newcomer or a specialist who has studied one tree so long that the forest has been forgotten

    ROBERT SAPOLSKY, author of Behave

  • I don’t remember the last time I was this excited about a psychology-related book. The Human Mind is everything a reader wants. Enlightening, thoroughly researched, and witty too. Paul Bloom knows his stuff and has a way of sharing that will delight you. I wish psychology was always taught in this way

    Sophie Mort (aka Dr Soph), author of A Manual For Being Human

  • Paul Bloom can always be counted on to take your confident assumptions about humanity and turn them upside down

    SUSAN CAIN, author of Quiet

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