Subscribe to Read
Sign up today to enjoy a complimentary trial and begin exploring the world of books! You have the freedom to cancel at your convenience.
How Do We Know Ourselves?: Curiosities and Marvels of the Human Mind
| Title | How Do We Know Ourselves?: Curiosities and Marvels of the Human Mind |
| Writer | |
| Date | 2025-01-27 00:26:41 |
| Type | |
| Link | Listen Read |
Desciption
“Each chapter is a gem of insight into the human experience, cut and polished to perfection by the renowned psychologist David Myers. Better than any book I can recall, this book answers questions about why we think, feel, and act as we do—but also makes us curious to learn more.” —Angela DuckworthA delightful tour of the wonders of our humanity from David G. Myers, the award-winning professor and author of psychology’s bestselling textbook.Over the past three decades, millions of students have learned about psychology from textbooks by David G. Myers. To create these books and to satisfy his own endless curiosity about the human mind, Myers monitors the leading journals to discover the most extraordinary developments in psychological science.How Do We Know Ourselves? is a compendium of the most wondrous verities that Myers has found, revealing thought-provoking insights into our everyday lives. His astute observations and sharp-witted wisdom enable readers to think smarter and live happier.Myers’s subjects range from why we so often fear the wrong things to how simply going for a walk with someone can increase rapport and empathy. He reveals why we repeatedly mishear song lyrics and how the color of President Obama’s suits aided in his decision-making. Myers also explores the powers and perils of our intuition, explaining why anything can seem obvious once it happens.These forty essays offer fresh insight into our sometimes bewildering but ever-fascinating lives. Myers is engaging and intellectually provocative, and he brings a wealth of knowledge from more than fifty years of teaching and writing about psychology to this lively and informative collection. He inspires us to ponder timeless questions, including what might be the most intriguing one of How do we know ourselves?
Review
As the blurb says, the author "explains why we repeatedly mishear song lyrics and how the color of President Obama’s suits aided in his decision-making." That hooked me. The author has been writing psychology books, including text books, for many years. What has got me on the fence (hooked? fence?) is that he writes from a Christian point of view.In a pure science book, the religion of the author is irrelevant. But in a social psychology book, where the author has previously written other social psychology books from an overtly Christian point of view, I'm wondering if that frame of reference he will use in providing the reader with insights into ourselves in the forty essays of the book is going to be Christian? If it's going to be Christian, it's not going to be an objective, psychology-based look at our minds anymore than if it was from a professor of any other religion who had religion uppermost in their minds. It doesn't matter what religion the author is, only if they view our minds through that lens rather than scientifically, and since the author is a social psychologist, my betting is that he does. On the fence but not off the hook about buying this.
