So many great paragraphs that they make up for a few places where he gets lazy and spells out conventions. As the number of notes I took goes, this book is a winner; in addition to all its original content, it has the best summaries I've encountered of many complex ideas/theories. He is remarkably devastating against standard social sciences and postmodernist thinking.

The book may get a little monotone in the technical chapters, but it's a must-read for anyone interested in psychology, evolution, nature-nurture debates, or mundane questions like "Why do men and women want different things?".

I just wish he was more open to the meme theory; then he could be perfect.

I don't know h0w I ever managed to live fully as a woman before the erudite Dr. Pinker informed me that it is not in my nature to like pornography. I'm so glad he set me straight on that. I guess I'm going to have to wipe my hard drive.

The book does not lack good qualities, but I generally dislike the technique of argumentation that is too often characterized by poor proof backed by a certain arrogance towards alternative explanations. The chapter on the sexes is particularly shoddily presented. The "proof" that Pinker refers to when trying to back his claims that (simply put) evolution and innateness alone explain the differences between the sexes when it comes to attitudes to sex (the male hunter/gatherer has logically a greater chance of spreading his genes since he doesn't have to carry the baby for nine months, and so on) is based on polls filled out by university students. That these students are also caught up in a social reality doesn't seem to have crossed Pinker's mind.

Good scholars know where to draw the boundaries between science and speculation. Chomsky has said that one can learn more about human nature from reading a novel than from scientific psychology. In other words, he knows that his scientific field is limited to a certain aspect of human nature and language, and thus doesn't try to explain more than can be deducted by reasoning from the facts presented. (One can have opinions as to how successful Chomskyan linguistic science actually is, but that's another matter.) Certainly, Pinker is allowed to speculate, as is any scientist. The problem is that Pinker's speculations are sometimes presented as truths. Therefore, this book does, despite some interesting facts being presented in it, leave me with a bitter taste in my mouth.

Good book to read, especially if you haven't taken a psychology course before.

I started reading this and like a number of others on here, part way through just found the effort was not being sufficiently rewarded. One of the very few books I have been happy to give up on.

Language provides a window into the history of society, but this book also helps show how it has both formed and is a part of our consciousness and our own experience. I think a huge range of people would enjoy this book for many many reasons. Perhaps the only genre that would struggle with it would be possibly the very religious. Otherwise pick it up and have a read you are going to love it!

I found the chapter titled "The Mind's Eye" to be so tedious and seemingly interminable (80+ pages) that I nearly quit this book. But I slogged through and was rewarded ultimately with a fascinating read. Pinker's controversial thesis--that the mind is a computational organ, engineered by natural selection ("a naturally selected neural computer"), is well described and well defended, in prose that is, for the most part, readable and accessible, much of chapter 4 notwithstanding. But for readers who only want to tackle one thick book by this author, I would recommend his The Blank Slate instead.

It's been years since I've read this, so I don't reliably remember all the arguments in Pinker's book. I remember finding it very interesting at the time, but since then, I've become a lot more skeptical about evolutionary psychology.

I'm not actually sure that I read the whole thing, considering I can't remember much of it...

A good book for many new facts, ideas and theories, but jumpy and without radical new conclusions.

The title of the book is a misnomer. The author frequently gets excited about explaining evolution, whether in organs, thoughts or behaviours. He tries to justify these wanderings by vaguely linking to the mind but if there is any central theme in the book, it is less related to the workings of the mind than justifications of evolutionary theories.

That said, the book's rich details are exciting for anyone with patience and desire to learn. The book does get difficult for non-experts in parts (particularly the section on eye), but the breadth of the topics covered is still fascinating and shows the efforts put in by the author. While the author refrains from taking strong assertive stands (so are minds automatons with all experiences an illusion? something the author tries to support indirectly without taking a firm stand), the author - like most critics - has more fun poking holes in alternate theories including religious or Freudian varieties.

I read this as a follow up to The Language Instinct and I should have known it would be hard to top since that was one of my all time favorite books. I absolutely loved the micro view of the brain in this book in the first half - looking at modules, seeing how they could have evolved. The second half zoomed out to discuss more how humans behave and less how neurons are flying around which I was less interested in. If you like a science slog I’d still recommend this one despite my three star rating.

Also, as I’ve been reading more and more of the pop cognitive science books I came to recognize some subtle digs at other scientists’ theories which was entertaining.

A great book for understanding human behaviour & decision making. It builds mental models and frameworks with strong explanatory power for understanding the human mind. This book impacts the way you view your own behaviour and the behaviour of others by exposing you to a deeper evolution-based grounding to the very complex topic of the human mind.

It is a big book containing just 8 chapters approaching 80-100 pages each . The conclusions arrived at bring insight and enlightenment and are well worth the journey - but be warned - many of these conclusions are preceded by the slow and careful development of ideas, which on occasion can be painstakingly dreary to the reader with non-specialist expertise in this topic (e.g. me). However, the journey (even the dreary bits) is worth it - this book can open your mind - there is much to be gained in reading it.

Het boek onthult veel over onszelf als individu en als soort.