Incognito

Incognito the secret lives of the brain

"This book will shine light on some of the hard-to-reach places in the brain, showing the ways in which we are not the ones driving the boat. Why does the conscious mind know so little? What do visual illusions unmask about the machinery running under the hood? How much of our lives are determined by choices and behaviors that are hard-wired, unconscious, and beyond our control? Do we have any management over who we find gorgeous or repugnant? How is it possible to get angry at yourself: who exactly, is mad at whom? If the drunk Mel Gibson is an anti-Semite and the sober Mel Gibson is authentically apologetic, is there a real Mel Gibson? Why did Supreme Court Justice William Douglas claim that he was able to play football and go hiking, when everyone could see that he was paralyzed after his stroke? Why do people willingly give up their money to banks for Christmas accounts (and why don't monkeys do this)? Why do patients on Parkinson's medications become compulsive gamblers? Why do athletes follow routines, like bouncing the ball three times before taking a free throw? Why did Charles Whitman suddenly kill his family and shoot forty six others from the UT Austin tower, and what did this have to do with his brain? How much of who we are is in the genes, and how much in the environment? Does free will exist or not, and how does that affect our view of blameworthiness and credit? The emerging understanding of the brain drastically changes our view of ourselves, shifting us from an intuitive sense that we are at the center of the operations, to a more sophisticated, illuminating, and wondrous view of the situation"--
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Reviews

Photo of Laura Mauler
Laura Mauler@blueskygreenstrees
1 star
Dec 25, 2023

This book felt like visiting the science center when I was in 6th grade: the vase/face image, zigzag illusions, and discussion of the blind spot in everyone's field of vision.

Photo of Hannah Yang
Hannah Yang@hannahyang
3 stars
Sep 18, 2023

Incognito is really does celebrate everything neuroscience has accomplished, and makes the field sound exciting and magical. I think I would have appreciated it a lot more had I read it closer to the beginning of the school year—my class has read so many similar books by now that I just didn't get anything new from this. I do think there is an argument within Incognito about using our increased understanding of the mind to redesign social programs (including, notably, the sentencing and treatment of criminals) that may be more controversial but the neuroscience/psychology part of the book is entertaining and well-presented.

Photo of Bilge Ince
Bilge Ince@bilge
5 stars
Jun 24, 2023

İlk okumaya başladığımda çok ama çok sıkıldım fakat ilk bölümün ardından kitap çok ilgi çekici bir hal aldı. Beyni, insan davranışlarını, ceza kavramını ve suç kavramini cok yönlü olarak vakalar üzerinden ilgi çekici bir şekilde anlatıyor. Şiddetle tavsiye edilir.

Photo of Felipe Saldarriaga
Felipe Saldarriaga @felipesaldata
4 stars
Jan 3, 2023

loved the premise of understanding how our brains interprete the reality and our 'counciousness' is like another inside what we call thyself 🤯 Hope to see a next edition or read more about current studies, the past is really good related and i'm soo exited to learn more about the present and future discovers of how our brain works

Photo of hend
hend@hend
4 stars
Aug 26, 2022

First, I would like to say that this one of the best books I've read, so far. Second, don't read this unless you want to look at every aspect of your life differently, because I was definitely someone else before reading this book(probably one of the objectives of the book) Third, I was pretty shocked about the fact that the writer thinks that we have no free will, and many people will not agree with this idea and may find it outrageous, and others will agree, I just can't seem to choose a side. Finally, I would recommend this book to everyone because this book is brilliantly written and mind boggling, and maybe, just maybe, you'll be a new you, who's willing to learn more about how your mind works.

Photo of Burcu Şakır
Burcu Şakır@burcusakir
5 stars
Mar 1, 2022

Muthis!

Photo of Safiya
Safiya @safiya-epub
3 stars
Jan 25, 2022

"If our brain were simple enough to be understood, we wouldn't be able to understand them" In fact even after reading this one, you DO learn new facts about your brain, but that doesn't nonetheless give you a satisfactory explanation to how Brain works ? However one can easily conclude that neuro-plasticity related disciplines are the next big thing...might be very helpful to AI, as it is stagnating...

Photo of Dustin Wyse-Fisher
Dustin Wyse-Fisher@dwysefisher
3.5 stars
Aug 1, 2022
Photo of Emma Bose
Emma Bose@emmashanti
5 stars
Mar 3, 2024
Photo of Jehan Chawla
Jehan Chawla@jehan
5 stars
Dec 18, 2023
Photo of Tanner Christensen
Tanner Christensen@tannerc
4 stars
Sep 21, 2023
Photo of Yuval Shoshan
Yuval Shoshan@yuvals
5 stars
Apr 18, 2023
Photo of Nargiz Rash
Nargiz Rash@narbertacusa
5 stars
Sep 14, 2022
Photo of Ahmed Salem
Ahmed Salem@salem309
5 stars
Sep 6, 2022
Photo of Burak Ercan
Burak Ercan@ercanburak
4 stars
Aug 15, 2022
Photo of Billie G
Billie G@billiesreads
4 stars
Aug 15, 2022
Photo of Ramazan Tutar
Ramazan Tutar@rrmazan
5 stars
Aug 12, 2022
Photo of Ari Hertz
Ari Hertz@arihertz
3 stars
Jun 24, 2022
Photo of Cecilie Nielsen
Cecilie Nielsen@litchae
5 stars
May 29, 2022
Photo of Deniz Kahraman
Deniz Kahraman@maxigenous
4 stars
Apr 29, 2022
Photo of Mutter
Mutter@mutter
3 stars
Mar 16, 2022
Photo of Piraye Albayrak
Piraye Albayrak@anjelikkheim
5 stars
Mar 9, 2022
Photo of Ferit Tenöz
Ferit Tenöz@ftenoz
5 stars
Mar 8, 2022
Photo of Hüseyin Dereli
Hüseyin Dereli@hdereli
5 stars
Feb 28, 2022

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