View source

{{BNR-table|scienticity=5|readability=5|hermeneutics=5|charisma=5|recommendation=5}}
Gary Marcus, ''Kluge : The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind''. 
Boston : Houghton Mifflin Company, 20081. 211 pages, including notes, references and index.


Gary Marcus is a professor of psychology at New York University and director of the NYU Infant language Learning Center. In this book, he investigates how the brain works: sometimes well, sometimes not so well.  His premise is that the brain is a patchwork of operations which developed/evolved over time into what he have today.  As he writes on page 2:

<blockquote>
Where Shakespeare imagined infinite reason, I see something else, what engineers call a "kluge."  A kluge is  a clumsy or inelegant -- yet surprisingly effective -- solution to a problem.
</blockquote>

In a very brief and exceedingly entertaining work, we are taken on a tour of various functions of our brain.  The chapter titles indicate what is considered:
# Remnants of History
# Memory
# Belief
# Choice
# Language
# Pleasure
# Things Fall Apart
# True Wisdom

I cannot praise the author's clarity, style or wit sufficiently. This is a wonderful book for anyone even in the least interested in psychology.  Concise and amusing, scientific and accessible, fact-filled and not in the least dull, this volume is worth every moment spent reading (and re-reading) it.  Don't just sit there...go find a copy and read it!


{{Notesby|IB}}

[[Category: Book Notes]][[Category: Top-Rated Books]]