Pros: You may never have a better chance to learn about how your brain works.
Cons: -
The Bottom Line: If learning about how your mind works can help you improve it, don't walk - run! to get a copy of Mind Hacks. Your brain will thank you.
scmrak's Full Review: Tom Stafford and Matt Webb - Mind Hacks
Chances are very good that you are aware that an average person uses only 10% of his brain. Chances are far worse that you realize this well-known little "factoid" is a generations-old fiction. It's just another cooked-up statistic, one more of an unending stream of misconceptions and urban legends that surround the mysterious inner workings of the lump of gray matter nestled inside your skull. I'm talking 'bout the ol' mental filing system; the seat of consciousness; the massively parallel-processing organic computer that sets humans apart from the rest of the animal kingdom: the human brain.
Ever wondered why some people have better memories than others? Why some can learn multiple languages while others can barely function in one? How sight and hearing and touch actually function? Unless you've undertaken an academic study of human psychology, you're probably completely unaware of the ways that chunk of interconnected neurons behind your eyeballs works. Well, here's your chance: pick up Mind Hacks: Tips & Tools for Using Your Brain.
Previous titles in the O'Reilly "Hacks" series delved the inner workings of the computerized world's websites (Google Hacks and Amazon Hacks), software (Word Hacks and Mac OS X Hacks) or hardware (TiVo Hacks and Digital Photography Hacks); but Mind Hacks is the series' first-ever foray into the world of "wetware." Unlike its sister publications, authors Tom Stafford and Matt Webb have created less a compilation of tricks for working around the brain's bugs or fancy ways to access its features and more of a comprehensive introduction to the algorithms of the mind. Sure, a careful reader can pick up a trick or two for improving memory or tips for speeding up learning a new skill. But the vast majority of the text is given over to explaining that first, most of us know very little about our brains; and second, most of what we think we know about our brains is either wildly simplistic or just plain wrong.
A quick scan of Mind Hacks can teach you some interesting facts. You could learn, for instance, that playing first-person shooter video games decreases your "attention blink" and enhances your ability to subitize - assuming you can figure out what attention blink and subitizing are, you could parlay that knowledge into an argument for the positive effects of first-person video games. You might also learn that red sugar pills are a more effective placebo than white pills. You'll gain insight into why walking up or down a broken escalator feels so strange, or why it's so hard to identify the color of an object at the periphery of your vision.
But there's more; much, much more: Did you know that at 24 images per second your eyes sense continual motion, but at 96 beeps per second, your ears register discrete sounds? That you can generate your own version of phantom limb pain without undergoing an amputation (good thing, eh)? Why it's impossible to tickle yourself? Why you cock your head when attempting to locate the source of a noise? That you can strengthen muscles and improve coordination through visualization alone?
One hundred different "Hacks" can teach a lot about your brain. The hacks are grouped according to the brain's functions - the different senses, language, mathematics, and motion; for instance. Almost all have a discussion of the physiological function of the brain and sensory organs and which bits of the brain are most active during that function. Many hacks have a little section called "In Real Life" that discusses how the topic effects your everyday interactions with the world - or how you might put this knowledge to use to improve your mental acuity. Quite a few suggest evolutionary or anthropologic reasons why our brains might be wired this way. Most hacks have a bibliographic entry (or two) in case you want to read a little more on the subject, and a few have links to websites where you can test the theories you just read. There are also plenty of examples, optical illusions, and tests that you can try on your own - or with a partner - to reinforce the passage you just read.
Here's an example of a test. Open another window and watch the video of a basketball game you'll find at http://viscog.beckman.uiuc.edu/media/mindhacks.html . Carefully count the number of passes made by the people wearing white shirts. Do not count passes made by people in black. Jot your answer on a piece of paper. Close the window.
Here are some fascinating facts you might learn from Mind Hacks:
• Most people can immediately discern the count of a small number of objects - usually one through four - as a group. It takes substantially longer to count even slightly larger numbers. This grouping process is called "subitization," and tests demonstrate that you can train your brain to subitize larger numbers
• About one in ten people is left-handed, but handedness doesn't seem to be genetically programmed. On the other hand, left-handedness may result from "neurological insult" in utero or during delivery - meaning, I suppose, that left-handed people are brain damaged.
• Your brain can distinguish a silence that is 1/1000th of a second long.
• If you are looking for two different things in a crowd or list, if your eyes encounter the second within about half a second after recognizing the first you probably won't "see" the second one. This is called "attention blink." Tests show that you can shorten the duration of this "blink."
Upshot and uproar: First of all, let's look at your results from that wacky basketball game. Did you see the gorilla? Most people don't.
Angry cries of left-handers and moans that "Einstein used more of his brain than a normal man" notwithstanding, Mind Hacks is one book that will make learning about your brain entertaining and fascinating. Try it; I think you'll like it.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.