Thursday, August 24, 2006

Stumbling on Happiness, by Daniel Gilbert

This is a really fun book, the sort of book you look forward to reading. Daniel Gilbert is a bit of a groovy grampa (he talks a bit about his two year old grand daughter), who writes in a really engaging style, with lots of smart quips and jokes along the way. Reading him, you get the impression that he'd be a lot of fun to hang out with.

The book itself is about how the mind works, why we do certain things and behave in particular ways. The main point here is our brain's frontal lobe, a recent evolutionary invention, which allows us to imagine the future, rather than living in a permanent present, as animals (no offense meant, especially to cute grey kitties who are very intelligent) do.

Each chapter is prefaced by a quote by Shakespeare, illustrating that the author is immersed not only in science, but in the arts as well.

For those looking for the answers to why we do what we do, then this is a good place to start.

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