How the Mind Works
by Steven Pinker

I admit that the title of this book sounded intriguing. But I didn't know how much of a ride I was in for as I started reading it. This is a fascinating look at how our mind works.

Unlike other books on the mind that consider it from the philosophical point of view, Pinker (a professor of psychology at MIT) looks at the mind from the biological, evolutionary and computational point of view.

He looks at the mind first as a computational tool in a first few chapters, packed with a lot of amazing detail. He looks at various studies being done on the characteristics of the mind and comes to the conclusion that the mind may be made up many computational modules, working together to present a coherent picture of the world as revealed by our senses. In studies that cover aspects of the mind like optical illusions, cognitive damage to parts of the brain, stereograms, neural networks, etc., he shows how the mind could be made up of disparate computational elements, each concentration on doing a simple task well. This is a very compelling picture.

Next, Pinker looks at how the mind could have developed in evolutionary terms. He looks at how we behave and react may have been developed via evolution. Again, he provides a fascinating study, while emphasising that how we react in evolutionary terms is not necessarily 'good' or 'evil'.

About the only thing Pinker does not cover in this massive (over 600 page) book is why we are sentient. He only covers this in a brief chapter at the end of the book and feels that it may not be in the mind's domain to figure out why it is sentient.

That is about the only disappointing note that I can find in this book. Whether you agree or not with the author on how the mind works, it is still a fascinating look into research being done in the field of psychology. It will be an eye and (dare I say) mind opening book.

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How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker

How the Mind Works
by Steven Pinker