Book Description

Expanded and completely updated, the fourth edition of Motor Control and Learning: A Behavioral Emphasis is a comprehensive introduction to motor behavior. The authoritative text frames the important issues, theories, persons, and research in the field in a reader-friendly way, allowing students to learn the most pertinent information in the field.

Motor Control and Learning: A Behavioral Emphasis, Fourth Edition, is the only graduate textbook that combines motor control and motor learning with the in-depth details students need in order to understand the topic and distinguish between different sides of an issue. Authored by two of the leading researchers in the field, the new edition features an up-to-date review of the latest research, more than 400 new references, new figures, and these new features:· Highlight boxes featuring in-depth discussion of relevant issues, new topics, and classic research · Selected quotes representing important contributions to the field, interpreted for current and future researchers · Web-based references that support and enhance students’ comprehension of the material

Motor Control and Learning: A Behavioral Emphasis, Fourth Edition, is the only text that focuses specifically on the motor learning and motor control areas of motor behavior. The new features and ancillaries make it ideal for students to use as a text and for professionals to access as a reference.

Part I introduces the fields of motor control and learning. It provides a brief history; explains the tools of motor behavior research; presents the information-processing approach, which is fundamental to understanding how humans think and act; and describes how attention influences motor behavior.

Part II addresses various factors contributing to the complex whole of the human motor system. It examines the roles of sensory information and the ways in which information from the environment influences movement behavior, considers the central control and representation of action, deals with laws and models regarding speed and accuracy, looks at the coordination needed for more complex tasks, and addresses factors that make people differ in their skilled behaviors.

Part III addresses performance changes that accompany motor learning. It describes the research methods used for studying and measuring motor learning, discusses the effects of various conditions under which a learner can practice motor skills, considers the effects of providing augmented information about what was done, and examines the empirical relationships and principles concerned with the retention and transfer of motor skills. ... Read more

Book Description

When it was published in 1987, Letting God was the first book to explore the themes of the Twelve-Step programs within the context of Christian tradition. Now revised to emphasize its spiritual focus, and including an introduction presenting a monthly theme, each daily reading begins with a selection from the New Testament. These are followed by eloquent, thought-provoking meditations that reveal how the passages apply to Christian living today, and conclude with a brief prayer. This inspiring daily devotional strengthens and encourages the reader, providing sustenance for the sould and practical insights on everyday life. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

An easy-to-read yet rigorous entry point into self analysis
As a software developer and mathematician presently in my early 60's, ever since I can remember I have always been long on technology and short on "people" knowledge Yet from my early adolescence I remember my dad telling me how important it is to know oneself. While I always agreed with this good advice, whenever I explored my soul, I seemed to fail to come up with meaningful, non-judgemental answers - possibly because my questions themselves were not thought provoking.

Enter Ms Peason and her "Heros Within" book. Her brilliant, accessible review of the 12 archetypes that define our personalities suddenly provided me with a new handle - a key to a better understanding of myself and others. What I particularly appreciated in her book was its combination of a rigurous, scientific treatment of the subject, couched in a language both accessible and devoid of academic circumlucutions. I would reccomend her book to anyone who wants to understand himself/herself better and/or redefine his/her professional and personal life.

Nice Tool for Self-Definition
I'm a Creator and a Magician!--who wouldn't be happy to have learned that? I'm also a gardener, a teacher, an artist, an adopted grandmother, a community worker, and I have a lot of other roles in life. Because I read this book, I recognize my strengths and my inclinations better, and I know what to emphasize in my work and in my relationships. I'm glad I read this, and I'm giving copies to others who are unsure about their strengths and how to apply them. Thanks!

This book is a useful tool for self imptovement and insight.
Dr. Pearson wrote this book with the lay person in mind. I never really understood what psychological archetypes were until I read this book. It is a well written "key" which will likely enhance your understanding of Dr. Carl Jung's work. When used with other great books like THE MODERN ALCHEMIST and EGO AND ACHETYPE, the average lay person can supercharge his/her personal understanding of life patterns and challenges, resulting in accelerated inner growth.

A powerful vehicle for self-discover.
Dr. Pearson's book, Awakening the Heroes Within, provides an ideal vehicle for self-discovery and renewal. The book contains self-score instruments that will help readers discover previously untapped sources of personal power. The book seems particularly well suited for adults in their professional years who are looking for ways to clarify their place in the world. The theoretical foundation for the work is both well-grounded and intuitively appealing. Friends, family, and students, have thanked me for the recommendation of this scholarly work. Like me, they revisit the book whenever they are in the mood for a psyche checkup.

Daniel R. Lofald, PhD, Educational Psychologist ... Read more

Book Description

This text has been the market leader for more than 40 years. It continues its popularity due to its thorough updating of data, facts, and figures while retaining the basic focus on solid research findings through a sociological point of view. Designed to appeal to today's students, the 12th edition examines topics with relevance for today - cultural and social reactions to deviance; the growing interest in white-collar and corporate crime; and the importance of the Internet and computer communications in changing views on deviance in modern life. ... Read more

Book Description

For the 75th anniversary, a new edition of the seminal work with an introduction by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Louis Menand.

Civilization and Its Discontents may be Sigmund Freud's best-known work. Originally published in 1930, it seeks to answer ultimate questions: What influences led to the creation of civilization? How did it come to be? What determines its course? In this seminal volume of twentieth-century thought, Freud elucidates the contest between aggression, indeed the death drive, and its adversary eros. He speaks to issues of human creativity and fulfillment, the place of beauty in culture, and the effects of repression.

Louis Menand, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Metaphysical Club, contributor to The New Yorker, and professor of English at Harvard University, reflects on the importance of this work in intellectual thought and why it has become such a landmark book for the history of ideas.

Not available in hardcover for decades, this beautifully rendered anniversary edition will be a welcome addition to readers' shelves. ... Read more

Reviews (16)

My conception of Frued's "Civilization and It's Discontents"
To whoever is interested in Freuds "Civilization and It's Discontents" I SAY READ IT! An excellent book which depicts civilization for what it is. In this book Freud discussed a varity of topics such as religion, sex, happiness and human suffering (listed in no particular order). I think that the entire purpose of the book was to show humans that civilization is not any better than times before it occured. We tend to think of ourselves better than pre-civilized times however, nothing has changed because reality is constant. Human nature is focused on beauty, instinct and will.

badly translated
If you can find another translation of this seminal book (see my review of Freud's Gravida), then do so. Strackey translates "kultur" (culture) as "civilization," "I" as "ego," and in general makes Freud seem so lifeless and cold-blooded that it's nearly impossible to get an accurate feel for his thought.

Without defending Freud's obvious reductionism, it needs saying that it was he who prompted us to ask: do the demands of modern life encourage or pathologize our innermost strivings? What do they do to our eros, our capacity for loving and feeling solidarity? And how do they stimulate our frustration and aggression?

While I disagree with Freud's conclusion that the total psychic repression of powerful passions is a necessary evil for the existence of culture, I do think he challenges us to wonder about just how high a price we pay for what we believe to be the "higher" and "nobler" achievements of the mind.

Freud as psychoanalytic sociologist.
Sigmund Freud, whatever the variations in his posthumous reputation, remains the most compelling, daring, and persuasive analyst of the human condition we have. His psychoanalytic theories of sexuality, sublimation, repression, etc., offer original insights that profoundly influenced the course of Western consciousness in the 20th century. In addition to his gifts as a thinker, Freud was a master stylist, a man whose luminous prose and skillful argumentation make reading him a genuine pleasure.

"Civilization and Its Discontents," one of Freud's last works, remains one of his most vital and important. Don't be fooled by its brevity; this is a deeply complex and wide-ranging examination of Western civilization and its tensions. Freud speculates about the origins of our modern societies, the difficulties of assimilating ourselves to them given our own individual psyches, and ends the book with a rather pessimistic look forward. Clearly, Freud felt that civilization's "discontents" were an unresolvable fact of life.

What makes "Civilization and Its Discontents" so fascinating is Freud's application of psychoanalysis to Western society as whole. He examines how the factors at play in our own psyches--family conflicts, sexual desire, guilt, the "death instinct," and the eternal battle between our own self-interest and the interests of the human species at large--cause the problems that human beings encounter on a daily basis. As always with Freud, his ideas are put forward not as a final statement, but as a tentative first step.

This is one of Freud's indispensable texts, and its accessible and absorbing style make it an ideal introduction for those who are seeking to discover this colossal mind for the first time. A must read.

Stuck in a dualistic world
Freud's Civilization and its Discontents could arguably be one of the most compelling books you will ever encounter, if read properly. The problematic posed by Freud is a fundamental one. Freud argues that the demands of civilization and demands of our instincts are out of sync. He posits that humans are haunted by an assortment of powerful unconscious needs. These hardcore "needs" range from sexual fulfillment to a release of aggression. These primal needs for sexual fulfillment and aggressions were once the tools we used to survive. With the dawning of a new age, we no longer need to use these tools. We turn inwards. See, juxtaposed and interconnected is the other side of the coin, is civilization - a phenomenon that inhibits these primal drives. But we need civilization to give us a different sense of security. It is a catch-22. Throughout the ages, then the constant tug of war between these two forces has caused ruptures in our history was the tension is expressed in frustration.

Freud is really informative when he posits that we turn this aggression inward. Perhaps it is how civilization has configured good and evil that is turning this mechanism out of sync. In an almost sado-masochistic move, the superego is now torturing the ego. It is the collision rather than the confluence that is ruining this forced marriage. I am not certain that Nietzsche really had this sort of impact on Freud but I am reminded of Dionysus and Apollo from The Birth of Tragedy.

Nietzsche was trying to convey a partnership between them more than a countering or perhaps better, a "healthy tension." To be human is to be stretched between these two domains. The Dionysian is the raw impulses, chaos, and absurdity of existence; the Apollonian is the ordering impulse that seeks order, the eternal (in logic, religion, or morality, etc.) and beauty. As a particular existence, we are comprised of the raw stuff that is life in its very heart. We are contradiction, passions, chaos; but we cannot live in this domain alone, because it is ugly, terrifying and absurd. Thus we are wont to make it beautiful, to create from it a habitable and beautiful world (and self). Without the Dionysian, there can be no Apollonian. Without Apollonian, life would not be bearable. Hopefully, Nietzsche (as does Freud) does not advocate a return to our "bestial natures." However, Nietzsche declares that it is better to be a Cesare Borgia than a Christian, for at least great things are possible with the raw power and nobility of the beast. The Christian, to him, is enfeeblement and brutalizes the nobility and power inherent in humankind. To be capable of greatness, one must be capable of evil and good. The Christian, however, esteems everything that is meek, pitiful and weak. Action is evil, the world is evil, and we must quietly await a better one. Nietzsche, and the existentialists, would resist any attempt to ascribe a "nature" which predetermines us. We are flux. We are change. We are in a constant state of becoming and there is no prior nature that determines what we will become.

Although Freud was a champion for the recognition of these primal urges, it cannot be said that he advocated a free for all. What is really powerful in Freud is that civilization is not seen to be purely an external thing and it has real consequences on the inside. Our superego - civilizations handmaiden on the inside - is now calling the shots. As we internalize what the external is telling us to do, how to act - like gnawing guilt it invades our psyche to the extent that no matter how we wish to transgress, we become and need the very thing that causes our frustration.

If you peg the most basic response to fight or flight, then civilization can be seen to have removed that which was causing all sorts of anxiety - as we no longer express and remove sexual needs and aggression "in the wild." Freud it could be argued is saying that the superego now attacks the ego denying out most elemental needs. Those needs though, because of the reconfiguration of civilization are suppressed. The two forces - the superego and the ego, instead of working together are working against each other. If perhaps there is a hope for a sense of a new humanism, that this might be the answer - finding a way for the superego to work with rather than against the ego, that is of course if you have bought in on the duality. The debate rages on.

Miguel Llora

Surprise: Freud is actually an effective writer!
Many people today believe that Sigmund Freud was obsessed with sex. However, most of these assumptions are based upon what another person said of Freud and almost never upon a careful reading of Freud's work. These people do not see the fact that Freud writes on more than sexuality, he also analyzes and researches the study of mankind. Sigmund Freud attacks the question why we do things the way we do head on and answers to the best of his reason. Therefore, Sigmund Freud was truly a man of his time and his debate on mankind was a very innovative method to answer mankind's most serious issues.
Man is an aggressive being and civilization is the means which humanity withholds its primal urges in check. At least Freud believes so and shows support for this thesis by referring to mankind's constant need to restrain its inherent passions despite all of the controls placed by society. I believe that Freud was definitely on to something with this point. He is right when he states that man is essentially an anti-social, anti-cultural being. One could look down through the pages of history and see war after war, violent act after violent primarily as a result of the inherent greed for power and a passionate thirst for more than one's own. This is one of the many reasons why communism is impossible, man is a selfish being and always desires more than he possesses. He will do what is necessary to increase his holding at the expense of his fellows. I believe that Nietzsche and Freud are in agreement at this point. However, Nietzsche believes that the masses attempt to quell this passion and label that as noble. I believe that Freud does not think it is possible to restrain this aggressiveness and mankind is only able to cover it up in a semblance of control which we label civilization. Though I see merit in both men's argument, my reaction is that there is another solution. I believe in Christian perspective that "by beholding we become changed" and with a personal relationship with Christ one is capable of achieving victory over that aggression. Freud argues that the need for self-preservation is often disrupted by a "social anxiety". This anxiety is a state in which individuals are controlled by the opinions of others towards them. Freud contends that the majority of society is ruled by this anxiety. His solution to this is a "higher stage" attainable by rising above the need to care about how others perceive one's conduct. This implies that behavior controlled by social conventions is more primitive than behavior controlled by the individual. According to Freud, morality is not an issue of socially determined shame, but a matter of internalized primal guilt. This guilt is the basis for beliefs such as an original sin and is the main catalyst in mankind's aggression. I doubt that this is the most flattering perspective to look upon our own nature, but Freud's argument does contain a lot of merit.
We read earlier in Walden that "the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation" and I believe Freud saw this desperation as a direct result of the affects of social anxiety. We see this today in the pop culture where in order to fit in an individual must conform to the trends in fashion. We see it in the work environment where the worker flatters his boss. We see it in the political world where politicians say and do what is necessary to keep public opinions high. We are so drawn into the belief that the opinions of others matters that we spend the majority of our time and money on things we don't need to impress people we don't care about.
After reading Civilization and Its Discontents I am not under the impression that Freud is correct about everything. However, I am able to respect his writing as an important critical look at society which still has merit even today. Perhaps our world would be a better place if all of its inhabitants stop to think of why they do the things they do and what are the effects of their actions. Perhaps mankind would improve if we learned how to control our inherent aggression and to not worry about other people's opinions. Perhaps this is merely wishful thinking on my part. ... Read more

Book Description

Ideas about heredity and evolution are undergoing a revolutionary change. New findings in molecular biology challenge the gene-centered version of Darwinian theory according to which adaptation occurs only through natural selection of chance DNA variations. In Evolution in Four Dimensions, Eva Jablonka and Marion Lamb argue that there is more to heredity than genes. They trace four "dimensions" in evolution -- four inheritance systems that play a role in evolution: genetic, epigenetic (or non-DNA cellular transmission of traits), behavioral, and symbolic (transmission through language and other forms of symbolic communication). These systems, they argue, can all provide variations on which natural selection can act. Evolution in Four Dimensions offers a richer, more complex view of evolution than the gene-based, one-dimensional view held by many today. The new synthesis advanced by Jablonka and Lamb makes clear that induced and acquired changes also play a role in evolution.

After discussing each of the four inheritance systems in detail, Jablonka and Lamb "put Humpty Dumpty together again" by showing how all of these systems interact. They consider how each may have originated and guided evolutionary history and they discuss the social and philosophical implications of the four-dimensional view of evolution. Each chapter ends with a dialogue in which the authors engage the contrarieties of the fictional (and skeptical) "I.M.," or Ifcha Mistabra -- Aramaic for "the opposite conjecture" -- refining their arguments against I.M.'s vigorous counterarguments. The lucid and accessible text is accompanied by artist-physician Anna Zeligowski's lively drawings, which humorously and effectively illustrate the authors' points. ... Read more

Book Description

This text examines the fundamentals of solving a scientific research problem, focusing on the relationship between the problem and the research design. This edition includes new information about computer statistical software, multivariate statistics, research ethics, and writing research reports in APA style. This book is ideal for graduate students in that it covers statistics, research methodology, and measurement all in one volume. This is a book that graduate students will keep as a reference throughout their careers. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Foundations of Behavioral Research
Foundations of Behavioral Research by Kerlinger and Lee is one of my prescribed books, for a Research course that I am taking, as part of a Masters program.

In the course of working through the book, we (my fellow students and I), have encountered a large number of spelling, grammatical and even content errors. The book needs careful reading and editing.

However, the book has a lot to offer if you can look beyond the flaws mentioned above.

One of a kind
There are very few books written that covers as many important topics in behavioral research methods as this one. Earlier editions were outstanding and the fourth edition is exceptional. The new material in the 4th Edition is helpful to today's researcher. Both researcher and student doing research should have this book. The examples are extremely useful in facilitating the understanding of research methods and the analysis of data.

Kerlinger is the Behavioral Research Bible
This volume includes everything a student or professional researcher needs to know about the methods and principles of behavioral research. This comprehensive guide can be used for work in psychology, nursing, sociology, market research and other areas. ... Read more

Book Description

This book offers a unique integrated approach to social behavior. Using a "goal directed" approach, the authors organize the book around a "Goal, Person, Situation" framework using a pair of unifying themes:--Social behavior is goal-directed.--Social behavior is a result of interactions between the person and the situation. By using these two simple organizing themes, the book presents the discipline as a coherent framework for understanding human conduct.Compelling mysteries, cutting-edge scholarship, lively writing, and the authors' reputations as both respected researchers and teachers, all come together to make this book an accessible and engaging read. For students of psychology, or anyone interested in learning more about social behavior. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

the doors of cognition !
this book opens the doors of cognition ; in fact , when tiing a famous person ( ie : demora , luther king , kenwrinkel ) to notions of social psychology like ( social role , influence , aggression , etc ) , it allows our memory to widen , and teach a method to learn more and more easily !
that is , build couples : idea and picture !
this book uses cognition methods and invite us to study that field !
... opening the doors of cognition ...teaches too , that very simple tools may have terrific and positive effects !

Social Psychology: Unraveling the Mystery
The most valuable benefits of adopting this book for my class was the unbelievable support from the publisher. A&B provided a study guide, a test bank, a huge package of transparencies, a powerpoint presentation CD...--all of this for free. I have been astonished by the sevice and free benfits I have gotten as the result of choosing this otherwise excellent book.

Let's hope the competition emulates this author and publisher.

Mr. Cialdini's comments
After reading Mr. Cialdini's comments about his book, I wondered: is he trying to employ his "scarcity principle" to influence book sales? ;) ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (4)

Arguing them out of it.
Many depressed people have a negative self-image and are always expecting something bad to happen. Beck's theory is that this is the cause, rather than a result, of depression. The depressed make "depressogenic assumptions" and have to be shown that these are false. It sounds as if zealous Beckian therapists must spend a lot of time arguing with their patients.
"Cognitive Therapy of Depression" is an excellent book, obviouly written by a wise and experienced clinician. It reads as if directed at other professionals, and is full of sound advice to them.
Like other neo-Freudians (and I would classify him as a neo-Freudian) Beck recommends ignoring the patient's childhood memories. I suspect this is an effort to distinguish them from the orthodox Freudians. Sometimes it makes sense but in cases it is like "apart from that Mrs. Lincoln how did you enjoy the play?" (For example childhood bereavement is well-documented as associated with depression).
I thought Chapter 10 "Specific Techniques for Dealing with the Suicidal Patient" could have been improved or else the reader referred to a general psychiatry text. The authors seem undecided as to whether they are writing a comprehensive review of how to handle the suicidal or merely giving advice about the content of therapy sessions. Suicidal risk factors are covered in an incomplete way. Suicide hotlines are not mentioned.
Chapter 14 on "Technical Problems" could be read with profit by anyone who works with the depressed.
Chapter 17 "Cognitive Therapy and Anti-depressant Medications contains a wonderfully succinct and clear summary of the taxonomy and natural history of depression. (My copy want printed in 1979 but I did not think the information was outdated). It contains a frank and full list of the kind of patient who does NOT respond to cognitive therapy, which is basically the kind of patient psychotherapists avoid. (Although in non-academic real life we do have to spend time, often a lot of time, talking to such patients and have to know how to do it)
Beck and his co-authors (all male judging by their first names) write in a pleasant, readable and old-fashioned style, with frequent references to "our clinic" and an assumption that the therapist is male. Most of the advice is completely in accordance with psychodynamic technique and common sense. The warm (but not too warm) and empathetic (but not too empathetic) therapist is to let the patient talk and to be nice to to her. The talking will uncover previously unsuspected conflicts, at which point the patient may show strong emotion, which is to be encouraged because it produces "catharsis" (sic). Freudian mechanisms of defense are assumed.One case described is a woman suffering from fatigue and lack of energy, which were finally found to be due to her struggle to avoid unpleasantness in her relationship with her husband. All was well when she learned to accept his imperfections. One detects a flavor of old Vienna.
The biggest selling point of Beckian therapy has been its use of controlled trials to demonstrate its superiority to other brands of psychotherapy. Controlled trials run by psychotherapists are often in the same category as Dr Johnson's preaching woman and dancing dog. The evidence is well presented in Chapter 18 "Outcome Studies of Cognitive Therapy." Obviously you don't go to a book by Beck to get and completely unbiassed meta-analysis of the evidence for Beckian therapy, so you'd have to supplement this with following the reviews in the professional journals.

A classic by a preeminent expert.
Aaron T. Beck's "Depression" is regarded as a classic. Its emphasis is on the diagnosis and treatment of depression, including manic depression (bipolar disorder), and other affective (mood) disorders. There is much more detail regarding the diagnosis of affective disorders than one would find in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-IV). Of particular importance is the inclusion of the Beck Depression Index, a psychological test used to evaluate people for depression. People with a background in both mental health and psychological testing are familiar with the Beck Depression Index. A good portion of the book is devoted to the Beck Depression Indicator (as a subjective assessment medium). Additionally, Beck discusses patterns of behavior and the manifestation of depression in dreams.

A portion of the book is devoted to theories of depression, dealing primarily with 20th century theories of depression. If you want to view depression in a historical context, there is nothing better than Jackson's "Melancholia and Depression." However, we digress at this point. We must remember that this work was copyrighted in 1967, and that there has been significant research on affective disorders since then. The discussion of psychopharmacological intervention does not discuss the selective seratonin reuptake inhibitors such as Prozac, Paxil, and Zoloft. The work of Martin E. P. Seligman, also of the University of Pennsylvania, is not mentioned because it was not completed by the time of the release of this publication. The strongest appeal of this book is the use of cognitive therapy in the treatment of depression.

This book has value to academic libraries, mental health professionals and students, as well as people who are interested in the study of depression and mood disorders. In addition, those who have a family member suffering from depression may be given an insight into the diagnosis and treatment of this disorder through reading this book. People who buy this book should also consider purchasing Martin E. P. Seligman's "Learned Optimism," as well as Jungian analyst Julia Kristeva's "Dark Sun."

An excellent introductory text!
Cognitive Therapy of Depression is a classic in its own right: It gives clear examples of the symptoms and how to treat them using cognitive therapy. For anyone remotly interested in psychology or the theories behind depression this book is a must have.

A classic
This book is the most important book ever written in the field of cognitive therapy. Clearly written, informative, helpful to beginning and advanced clinicians, it is a classic. For anyone interested in learning how to conduct cognitive therapy, this book is simply required reading. Robert L. Leahy, Ph.D., Director, American Institute for Cognitive Therapy, NYC ... Read more

Book Description

This twenty-seventh edition of Annual Editions: Anthroplogy is a compilation of public press sources which examines anthropological perspectives; culture and communication; organization of society and culture; families; gender and status; religion and ritual; and sociocultural change. Including selections from Colin Turnbull, Laura Bohannan, Napoleon Chagnon, Richard Borshay Lee, Deborah Tannen and Douglas Raybeck, this reader includes both classic and contemporary anthropological studies. This title is also supported by the student Web site, Duskin online at http://www.dushkin.com/online ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (14)

Read it with a grain of salt...
This book offers an insightful perspective on some of the "male" behaviors that are complexing to many women. In general, the author's assertions ring very true. I will certainly approach my relationships with men differently having read this book. However, the author makes strong suggestions that women avoid certain sexual activities when dating. This goes back to the old adage that a woman is solely responsible for chastity and I think that's archaic and demeaning to women and men. It implies that men have no control over their sexual urges and are not part of the process of deciding when and if they want to become intimate with someone. So, read this book with a grain of salt. It's always beneficial to relationships when you attempt to understand someone and respect their differences. This book gives some pointers on beginning that process.

Enlightening and Informative
I heard the author speak on a radio talk show a few months ago, and his book sounded good. I found it quite informative. Maybe I've missed something in my long marriage, but some of his revelations were new to me. I suspected many of the differences were true but didn't have the supported facts until now.

I particularly enjoyed such topics as intimate separateness, "earn this", the heart vs life journey, "wouldn't have war" remark (pg. 61), the current decades long dominance of the woman's view, and stages of marriage, among many others. One could quibble with the stages, but it is nevertheless food for thought and gives some good insight into most marriages. Don't miss chapter 7 on the male at home.

... Martin Gardner, a science writer of some considerable note and talent, put together something of a quack detection list of 10 or so items. I don't think the term quack has any place here. Gurian does at least give very specific material that one can go to for additional information on sex difference research. This or Gurian's interpretation of it doesn't look like quack information to me. If one can question something about the sex difference argument, it is some educators' views (I think female organiaztion driven) that girl's are equivalent of boys and should be treated as such. There seems to a view that nearly two million years of evolution has not produced brain and other differences between the sexes. That view comes a lot closer to quackery than anything else on this subject.

My biggest beef about the books is about some of the organization. Some of the last few chapters seem out of place, but still useful. I did find myself skimming a few sections of the book, since they really do not apply to me. Rearing children, for example. For some reason, he did not include any index. There are plenty of times when I wanted to refer back to info and an index would have been valuable--also for future reference. One saving point on this is that thankfully Amazon has a facility to search the entire book. There's also an abundance of brain terminology that would be served well in an appendix. I finally resorted to taking notes and found a good web site to get additional info ...

I'd suggest this book be required reading for men and women.

What could he be thinking
This book is not P/C. But even Newsweek says men and women are different so it must be okay to read heretical books like this.

If you are a feminist, or male in denial about what testosterone does to your brain when in utero, you will not enjoy the time reading this book. As a husband I am now at peace with myself on many issues, including why I can't ever load the dishwasher correctly.

As a father I am now far more able to parent my teenage sons because I realize how we are the same. Further, as a result of my confidence from this book, and insights from "Every Mans Battle' (stoker and arterburn) I am intervening and helping shape my teeneage sons lives on on issues of sexuality, pornography and other behaviour traps that face them daily.

As a husband I have better understanding of my wifes view of work, the home, and what she values in a elationship. There are countless communication and value styles, and day to day, head to head issues in our relationship where this book has helped me. This proves you are never too old, or too married to learn.

This book is chock full of "aha's" as you realize why things work the way they do, either in a male to female or female to male manner. Here are a few of mine. Why I seem to go blank, look for a quick summary or resolution, or am unable to concentrate and get frustrated when discussing complex relationship topics after 30-45 minutes (women have more parts of their brains dedicated to speech and cache information more quickly). Why my wife can remember staggering deatils about the times she's been hurt or happy (its not because I'm stupid its because of how womens memory is structured).

If you are a guy and thinking about reading this, buy it and quit wasting time.

If you are a women in a "relationship" buy it for your man and tell him it is only one of three books you'll ever ask him to read, even if you have to use sex to get it read. You already know the chances are slim he'll never buy a book like this (self help books are like directions - you don't buy them and you don't ask for them).

What could Gurian be thinking?
What could Gurian be thinking? The back cover begins with a list of cultural stereotypes about men, beginning with "Why do men have to control the TV remote and channel-surf?" Some men do, and some women do, but many men don't. Throughout the book Gurian uses contemporary psychobabble to justify and reinforce all the men-negative stereotypes that a female dominated culture has promoted over the past 50 years. Despite the title he continually digresses to talking about women and women's brains frequently throughout the book. Occasionally Gurian approaches toward some real insight about men, but each time quickly backs away into a morass of jargon and the same old stuff in a new wrapper. He describes himself as a "bridge" man, which he defines as a man who thinks much like a woman. If you're a woman wanting to have your stereotypes reinforced, this is the book for you. If you're a man wanting to learn more about men, or a woman who really wants to know what a man might be thinking, you may think twice.

doctors criticizing doctors...
I am not a doctor, but I did stay in a holiday inn express last night, so I guess that qualifies me to be an expert on EVERYTHING - just like all doctors are...right. But seriously, here is the two cents of a major league skeptic who thinks this book has a lot of value.

I think it is fine to be skeptical about some of this science, as the doctor from San Jose points out, but it doesn't logically follow that just because the science isn't perfect that the ideas in this book are wrong (which seems to be the implication). In fact, I would say that empirical evidence tends to support the author's ideas, and that the idea that men and women think totally differently is not a particularly wild one. Focusing only on the science misses the point, and I couldn't disagree more with the statement, "If you want a healthy relationship you don't need to read a book to learn how." EVERYONE struggles with relationships, and if reading books or talking to friends or, god forbid, even talking to a shrink doctor, helps you, then that is great and you should go for it. Books can provide perspective, advice and understanding, and, in this particular case they can shed light on behaviours, and it is easier to tolerate a behavior if you understand why.

Now I agree with the good doctor's opinion that it is easy to use "that's just the way I am" as an excuse for bad behavior, but the differences in memory, emotional tendencies and other things discussed in this book are not all behaviors, but in many cases really are "just the way we are." I would go further to argue that communication styles are also "just the way we are," because even if they are learned behaviors, they are totally ingrained by adulthood, so you have to learn to translate what people say from their way of thinking to yours in order to respond properly and have a meaningful dialog.

And this does filter into such everyday things as channel flipping and a host of other things that women don't understand about men. I think it filters into everything. My wife is finally understanding that when it takes me 10 or 20 seconds to process what she says when I am watching something interesting on TV, it is not because I am purposely ignoring her or am not interested in what she has to say. It's just that I can only concentrate on one thing at a time, and it takes a bit to change gears.

On a final note, the doctor closes by saying nobody changes and that you need to find someone rational, good and loving. OK, I believe that to be true, but in my limited experience, on the rationality front, women have the same capacity for rationality as men, but they are 100 times more likely to throw it by the wayside if it conflicts with their emotions. Most women I know don't make personal decisions after a rational thought process weighing all the factors. But because I know and accept that, it doesn't bother me that my wife is so irrational sometimes, and I don't try to solve all her problems with reason, like I try to do for myself. I do try to separate out the emotional issues from the logical ones sometimes, but most of the time she just needs someone to stand by her, listen, care and suppport her. My best advice to men is that to learn how to do that, and to women, is to learn how to forgive and understand us when we don't, because this isn't our natural tendency. ... Read more

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Reviews (2)

A rare focus on the social and economic context
This is the only book-length exploration of the social and economic context of the the HIV/AIDS epidemics. What comes through is that the authors are not journalists who dashed off a book on AIDS, but longtime researchers, with world-ranging experience.

WHile well documented, it is readable. The next college level course I teach on contemporary issues will surely include this as required reading. My students will thank me for it.

The best comprehensive treatment of HIV/AIDS
Tony Barnett and Alan Whieside have done a fantastic job of placing the issue of HIV/AIDS within a comprehensive context. It is easy to read, well researched, thoughtful in it's analysis, and comprehensive - that is, it places the pandemic amidst the global forces that are affecting it and which must be understood if we're to successfully turn the tide. I am recommending it to many of my colleagues! It is the best book I have read to-date on the most challenging crisis facing the human family. ... Read more

Book Description

This award-winning book explores one of the most successful cultures and society the world has ever seen-capitalism.From its European roots more than 500 years ago to the present, the book examines the problems of capitalism's expansion, inequality, environmental destruction, and social unrest.Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism provides the reader with the anthropological, economic, and historical framework to understand the origins of global problems, why globalization and the global expansion of the culture of capitalism has generated protest and resistance, and the steps that are necessary to solve global problems. As one reviewer said, "This is a book that will doubtless create debate and controversy, but its topic should be pondered seriously by all who consider themselves citizens of our world society today."For anyone interested in global issues and international affairs. ... Read more

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Excellent book for anyone who cares about the world today!
I admit I'm a little biased. Richard Robbins was actually a professor of mine at SUNY Plattsburgh, and I had the opportunity to read this book while at the same time taking his global issues class. This book not only changed my mind about a few of the world's issues, it also gave me a broader perspective about the world in general. I now think about things such as 'where do my clothes come from?' and 'how did my fruit cup get here?'. Robbins is an extremely talented man and writer who asks the question, 'Is Disneyland for Everyone?' The answer: a resounding 'No, and here's why!' This book would benefit anyone seeking to gain an understanding about the world and his/her place in it. It truly is a global world, and Robbins' book is the first step to living in it.

Great textbook!
At last: a textbook which confronts the cultural power of capitalism. Robbins looks at how capitalism shapes cultures and how it has evolved into the most powerful cultural influence on the planet. A great resource for anthropology, geography, or history. Not your run of the mill textbook, it offers forceful critiques and compelling history. An excellent book for college students. ... Read more

Book Description

This unique guide provides a systematic overview of the idea of architectural space.

Bryan Lawson provides an ideal introduction to the topic, breaking down the complex and abstract terms used by many design theoreticians when writing about architectural space. Instead, our everyday knowledge is reintroduced to the language of design. Design values of 'space' are challenged and informed to stimulate a new theoretical and practical approach to design.

This book views architectural and urban spaces as psychological, social and partly cultural phenomena. They accommodate, separate, structure, facilitate, heighten and even celebrate human spatial behaviour.

* Helps to reconnect your everyday implicit knowledge with your professional conceptual knowledge
* Gain a greater understanding of clients by questioning the values you commonly hold
* Promotes easier communication by taking the abstract idea of 'space' and placing it in real terms ... Read more

Book Description

Many of our questions about religion, says renowned anthropologist Pascal Boyer, are no longer mysteries. We are beginning to know how to answer questions such as "Why do people have religion?" Using findings from anthropology, cognitive science, linguistics, and evolutionary biology, Religion Explained shows how this aspect of human consciousness is increasingly admissible to coherent, naturalistic explanation. This brilliant and controversial book gives readers the first scientific explanation for what religious feeling is really about, what it consists of, and where it comes from. ... Read more

Reviews (20)

Very effective use of evolutionary tools to study belief
Whether you agree with author's ideas or not, this is an excellent and perhaps even brilliant book. It very well developed and explained, thought-provoking, and remarkably persuasive, especially considering how counter-intuitive some of the concepts are. Boyer makes a clear presentation of the most common and intuitive explanations for religious concepts and practices, and then offers his alternative for each point, with empirical support where available.

Boyer's book is one of the best examples of making good use of evolutionary thinking from the young science of evolutionary psychology and the proto-science of memetics to bring new insights to anthropological data. His concepts become not just a way of explaining away "weird beliefs" but explanations for broad patterns in human belief in general. Boyer applies a coherent evolutionary epistemology to human belief and especially to the concepts and practices we consider religion.

The result is fascinating speculation with a new perspective and a good foundation. Since this is the kind of book that tries to explain why we believe what we believe, people starting with a different set of metaphysical assumptions will find it difficult to appreciate. Just as skeptics are fun to read until they attack our own beliefs, people of one religion will probably find Boyer's explanations fit well to other religions, but not their own. Such is life I suppose. To what extent can the same kind of explanations apply to scientific theories? Boyer addresses this by emphasizing that scientific ideas are very counter-intuitive and result from a lot of hard work to formulate and communicate them in specific ways, making them distinguishable from other kinds of concepts that arise more naturally.

Boyer argues that the domain we think of as religion is largely artifical. He believes that the experience of the numinous or special contact of certain individuals with supernatural agents cannot explain the widespread transmission of "religion" in culture. However, neither is the transmission of culture or the appearance of beliefs in different cultures arbitrary. Some concepts are passed on or reappear and others don't, and certain patterns emerge in every culture. The concepts that take on special importance to human life, as diverse as they seem, actually share certain qualities in all cultures.

Looking carefully at the cognitive processes that produce concepts and make them likely to be remembered and passed on, religious ideas and practices, Boyer insists, must be a result of the same cognitive processes that are used in other contexts, rather than special ones for perceiving supernatural agents in a transcendental domain.

There is an important nuance here. Some authors have argued from an evolutionary perspective that we have concepts for supernatural agents and perform behaviors relevant to those agents because of adaptive pressures specifically to perceive and act on "religious" forces of some sort.
Boyer turns this argument on its head and says that the kind of inference systems we evolved make certain concepts more salient than others, and make certain concepts more likely to be remembered and passed on, not necessarily because those concepts represent veridical things we adapted to, but because of the way our inference systems work. The common patterns in concepts reflect a common set of biases we all share because we share the same inference systems.

For example, Boyer says that we believe in spirits because they activate our inference systems for human agency and social exchange, and then are remembered and passed on because they make personally compelling explanations for what we observe. We tend pick up the particular concepts from our parents and local culture which fit our general explanatory needs. But what makes some concepts spread so much better than others? That's the question that meme theorists try to address, and one of Boyer's clever ideas is tying it back to evolutionary psychology.

Boyer's idea tying this all together is "aggregate relevance," which says that concepts which activate more of our shared universal biological inference systems and activate more of our emotional response patterns will have a bias in being remembered and passed on, and will also be more likely to be
"rediscovered" from at different times and places. So our evolved psychological adaptations in effect bias the transmission of memes.

Some interesting points:

(1) Boyer makes use of recent concepts from cognitive linguistics, such as the work of George Lakoff, to show how we categorize things in ways shaped by evolution.

(2) People have intuitions in certain general domains not primarily because they generalize from experience because of psychological adaptations (and therefore internal templates) for categorizing different things and drawing inferences from them. The templates produce intuitions about things. Violations of our templates are remembered better.

(3) The inferences we can draw about intentional agents are particularly rich, and apply to a wide variety of situations important to our daily life, so it is very natural for concepts about supernatural agents to fill our need to explain daily events, thoughts, and feelings, and especially misfortune.

(4) When we combine our moral intuitions with our rich inferences about agents allows agent to be thought of as *relevant* to morality, even though we don't seem to actually need the concept of a supernatural agent or exemplar to think and act morally.

(5) The relationship between coalition building, forming dominance hierarchies, and categorizing people is discussed. Inferences that we normally apply to species (such as essential hereditary qualities) are sometimes applied to groups of human beings instead, especially using easy-to-detect and hard-to-fake signs.

(6) Boyer sees fundamentalism as a result of our coalitional instincts, a reaction to defection from a coalition, and to the secular message that defection from the constraints of cultural rules can be accomplished at low cost.

(7) Boyer sees ritual as a way of exhibiting and testing social cooperation while providing a salient explanation for changes we observe in our own behavior.

(8) Boyer distinguishes the doctrinal version of concepts produced by guilds of literate specialists from the personal or local versions of the same concepts used by people everyday in their thinking.

A Groundbreaking Work in Behavioral Science.
In Religion Explained, Boyer attempts what no one else (to my knowledged) has: to present a comprehensive scientific explanation for religion. To undertake such a daunting task, Boyer employees numerous behavioral science disciplines, including evolutionary psychology, experimental social psychology, anthropology, sociology, and archeology just to mention a few. Early on, he debunks common and prevalent explanations for religion (many of which I subscribed to before reading this book) as facile and scientifically invalid.

Using Evolutionary Psychology as a foundation, Boyer describes how specific brain structures evolved to perform specific inferences related to basic survival (especially relevant are predatory and contagion inference) and the numerous inter-related systems used for conspecific interaction and cooperation. [It is especially important to understand that most inferences operate apart from conscious perception.] After comprehensive discussion of the multitudinous, interactive inference systems, Boyer describes how they collectively work to form religion. He explains that most varieties religious concepts (gods, spirits and other supernatural agents and their abilities; morality; death issues, etc.) and public behavior (rituals and prayer, religious-associated violence) can be explained in terms of these inference systems.

While he presents an effective argument for most aspects of religion, Boyer admits that a convincing scientific explanation for some forms of ritualistic behavior is elusive. He offers detailed speculation regarding the etiology of rituals, but admits the research at this time is inconclusive and mostly speculative. He compares rituals to similar non-religious activity, such as the compulsions associated with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, but this is only a plausible partial explanation because religious rituals exhibit distinct differences. OCD compulsions are undesired and cause psychological distress in the participant, while participation in rituals is usually voluntary and isn't inherently distressing to the participants (though sometimes it can be). Also, rituals normally occur in a culturally-related social context while compulsions are a repetitive form of individual behavior.

The only element of Religion Explained that was a little disappointing to me was the cursory discussion of secularism. Boyer explains that religion (in one form or another) is conducive to normal human brain functions. This of course evokes discussion of why some people are completely irreligious. Boyer only touches on this issue briefly and in a manner which seems a little obtuse to me (he states the issue isn't completely explanable in the context of his argument).

Religion Explained is a fascinating scientific treatise on a unique and undeniably significant form of human behavior. This is a fairly complex work (a behavioral science background is certainly helpful), but only to the extent necessary to form a coherent, comprehensive argument. Boyer has shown undeniably that the etiology of religion is far more multi-faceted than most people infer (both scientists and non-scientists). While his argument will certainly be refined as the various conceptual elements evolve and more research emerges, this new, scientifically vital approach ro religion will likely prove to be a monumental achievement.

an incredible piece of work
Of the thousands of books I've read in my lifetime, I put this one in the top three. This book further confirms my belief that if you really want to understand humanity, evolution is the key theory. This particular book, which covers human evolutionary psychology as it relates to religious belief is well written, well organized, and well argued. The author asks (and usually answers) the right questions. Finally, this is one of those books (for me anyway) that caused me to look at the subject of religious belief in an entirely new way. I have a much better understanding of why people believe and why I don't.

Thoughtfully Provocative
I've heard most psychological theories about religion at least once-until I read this book! I found this book very challenging and will need to read it over a few times to make sense of it and to realign my thoughts.

In its essence, this book gleans insights from cognitive and social psychology (via the field of evolutionary psychology) to explain why the brain latches onto religious concepts with such zeal. I found one of the more insightful points near the end of the book; there the author indicates that religion is less a 'thing' than a complex of inferences, representations, and biases. This rings true to me. Whatever discipline you study, it is natural to reify that field into a standard set of ideas and explanations. In fact, though, we must be careful to appreciate all these ideas as so much structural framework that may or may not do a good job of representing a more complex reality. In the end, no academic discipline should be monolithic in its approach.

It is always exciting to have a new field or novel set of empirical techniques seed a barren old field, for fresh ideas are bound to sprout. It seems that the emerging science of evolutionary psychology, though it faces many challenges of its own, may lead us to better understand why people the world over cling to counterintuitive (or as the author coins, counterontological) ideas about reality.

This book may or may not convince you of its thesis but it will certainly cause you to revisit your old ideas with a new perspective.

Small praise for a great, great work
Pascal Boyer has done incredible work in this book. ... Read more

Book Description

Emphasizing research findings and basic concepts rather than theories, this book surveys the major areas in the psychology of learning from a consistent behaviorist (i.e., B.F. Skinner) point of view.Explores the continuities between human learning and the learning of other animals. The book organizes the phenomena of learning in a systematic way, moving from Behavior Without Learning (evolution) to Learning Without Words (basics in nonhuman behavior and learning) to Learning With Words (human learning and memory). ... Read more

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Using Learning in learning courses
I have used the Learning text by Charles A. Catania for many years now inundergraduate as well as graduate Principles of Learning courses.I findthe text an excellent source for teaching students the technicalterminology and basic learning principles, and exposing them to importantstudies in the field. The text is very clearly written and absolutelyinformative. The text includes many research studies that the learningstudent must be familiar with in a clear and comprehensive fashion.Thesestudies and their context are described very clearly, providing the readerwith an excellent exposure the basic findings and principles in the field. The glossary in the back of the book is tremendously helpful in developingan understanding of the terminology.This textbook is, in my opinion, anessential must have for any student in the field of Learning. ... Read more

Book Description

A groundbreaking work by one of the world's foremost memory experts, THE SEVEN SINS OF MEMORY offers the first framework that explains common memory vices -- and their surprising virtues. In this intriguing study, Daniel L. Schacter explores the memory miscues that occur in everyday life: absent-mindedness, transience, blocking, misattribution, suggestibility, bias, and persistence. Schacter illustrates these concepts with vivid examples -- case studies, literary excerpts, experimental evidence, and accounts of highly visible news events such as the O.J. Simpson verdict, Bill Clinton's grand jury testimony, and the search for the Oklahoma City bomber. He also delves into striking new scientific research, giving us a glimpse of the fascinating neurology of memory. Together, the stories and the scientific results provide a new look at our brains and at what we more generally think of as our minds.

Winner of the William James Book Award ... Read more

Reviews (26)

"A Memory Expert Explains Our Sometimes Imperfect Memory"
"The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets and Remembers", ISBN 0-6518-04019-6 (H/C), Houghton Mifflin, 2001 is a 206 page treatise by accomplished author Daniel L. Schacter.

We are given an enticing introduction that is a snapshot of the 8 chapters which follow, the first 7 dealing with the seven sins: Transience, Absent-mindedness, Blocking, Misattribution, Suggestibility, Bias, and Persistence. The final chapter "...Vices or Virtues?" is a grand climateric which reviews the intrinsic(s) of each virtue and a discourse on origin of memory sins: whether collosal blunder by Mother Nature or a by-product of otherwise adaptive features of memory and in which the best explanations might be explored utilizing "reverse-engineering" theorizing.

The book both is and is not a teaching text: it may be read for general concept but also reaches into deeper levels of cognitive processes which may invoke tedious but pleasureable ratiocination. The case of mnemonist Shereshevski whose virtual (near total) recall of everything, significant and insignificant, precluded his ability to function at an abstract level gives us pause.

Sources of these memory pecadilloes is discussed as adaptive (adaptation), exaption (SJG), and spandrel, where the faux pas are not mere nuisances, and where memory links our past with the present and is available for future reference. Again, though the book reads easily, there is an enormous wealth of data and tentative assumptions which causes us to ruminate with weighty passion; and, if we are so disposed, to ponder the wither of memory and its various modes of rigidity, plasticity, and specious nature - and shown to vary betwixt the sexes and within the sexes. The author provokes us to mull these issues and so try to grasp the delicate wonderment of memory and those old ghost glories again to rise.

An error to be pointed out to the reader lies on page 182 which states "-the beta-blocker propanolol - that prevents the release of stress-related hormone." should read "...that prevents the action of stress-related hormone."

The book has sundry good features including 21 pages of notes, 26 pages of significant bibliography, and 14 page index written by seasoned writer of 8 prior books on memory. It is highly recommended and I believe it will improve your memory also.

Finding Faults, and Praising Them
Everyone, even young people, has suffered the frustration of an imperfect memory. What does not get acknowledged is that those frustrations, as common as they are, are only frustrating because they are so uncommon. Most of the time our memories function incredibly well. But as in most of neuroscience, when the brain doesn't function well, that's when we get a picture of what it is doing. A fascinating book, _The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets and Remembers_ (Houghton Mifflin) by Daniel L. Schacter, details just how memory goes wrong, and gives some answers about why. Most important, it tells how at least some of memory's mistakes are directly related to it's remarkable, almost error-free, functioning. Schacter is a neuropsychologist who has written about memory in both academic and popular publications, but his descriptions of the seven ways memory fails are novel, and everyone will recognize at least some of the failures, since they are universal.

Schacter devotes a chapter to each of the sins, like transience, absentmindedness, and so on. There is a chapter on the sin of blocking. We have a phrase for it: "It's on the tip of my tongue." This one is so universal that of fifty-one languages surveyed, forty-five have a similar phrase (the Cheyenne translates to "I have lost it on my tongue."). It is far more likely to happen when you are trying to remember someone's name; remembering Mr. Baker is much harder to remember than the word "baker" because Mr. Baker designates one individual, whereas "baker" designates a well known range of activities and products. One of the traps people fall into is while trying to retrieve a tip-of-the-tongue word, they find a sound-alike word and keep hitting on that, which delays finding the target word.

There is lots that can go wrong with memory, and Schacter presents amazing clinical cases, like the man who had no capacity to remember anyone's name while he could remember other things without difficulty, to show specific and extreme problems. But in the final chapter of the book Schacter reports that these sins are not design flaws, not products of a basically defective system. He uses (but does not over-use) evolutionary biology to show that brains have made trade-offs to produce a useful working system that will quite naturally fail in some instances. It might be handy to remember absolutely everything, but then our minds would be too crowded to do other things efficiently; there have been cases of people who formed memories of virtually everything that happened to them, and were so inundated with details they could not function in the real world. The brain is made to forget things it does not use regularly. You can read this book and become more forgiving about your own forgetfulness and others; Schacter's readable, fascinating account will make you admire just how well your faulty memory works.

Entertaining, as far as I recall.
Now, what was I going to say? Oh yes, no more corny humor! An entertaining, informative and well-written read on just how memory can fail u