Brain Bugs: How the Brains Flaws Shape Our Lives

Synopsis

A lively, surprising tour of our mental glitches and how they arise. With its trillions of connections, the human brain is more beautiful and complex than anything we could ever build, but its far from perfect: our memory is unreliable; we cant multiply large sums in our heads; advertising manipulates our judgment; we tend to distrust people who are different from us; supernatural beliefs and superstitions are hard to shake; we prefer instant gratification to longterm gain; and what we presume to be rational decisions are often anything but. Drawing on striking examples and fascinating studies, neuroscientist Dean Buonomano illuminates the causes and consequences of these bugs in terms of the brains innermost workings and their evolutionary purposes. He then goes one step further, examining how our brains functionand malfunctionin the digital, predatorfree, informationsaturated, specialeffectsaddled world that we have built for ourselves. Along the way, Brain Bugs gives us the tools to hone our cognitive strengths while recognizing our inherent weaknesses.