The Science of Fate, Hannah Critchlow
The Science of Fate, Hannah Critchlow
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The Science of Fate
The New Science of Who We Are - And How to Shape our Best Future

Author: Hannah Critchlow

Narrator: Hannah Critchlow

Unabridged: 7 hr 44 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/02/2019


Synopsis

Are we really the masters of our own destiny? Neuroscientist Hannah Critchlow shows how far our future is already hardwired in our brains. Like Sapiens and Thinking Fast and Slow, The Science of Fate revolutionises the way we understand our species and ourselves.

So many of us believe that we are free to shape our own destiny. But what if free will doesn't exist? What if our lives are largely predetermined, hardwired in our brains - and our choices over what we eat, who we fall in love with, even what we believe are not real choices at all?

Neuroscience is challenging everything we think we know about ourselves, revealing how we make decisions and form our own reality, unaware of the role of our unconscious minds. Did you know, for example, that:

* You can carry anxieties and phobias across generations of your family?
* Your genes and pleasure and reward receptors in your brain will determine how much you eat?
* We can sniff out ideal partners with genes that give our offspring the best chance of survival?

Leading neuroscientist Hannah Critchlow draws vividly from everyday life and other experts in their field to show the extraordinary potential, as well as dangers, which come with being able to predict our likely futures - and looking at how we can alter what's in store for us.

Lucid, illuminating, awe-inspiring The Science of Fate revolutionises our understanding of who we are - and empowers us to help shape a better future for ourselves and the wider world.

(P)2019 Hodder & Stoughton Limited

About Hannah Critchlow

Dr Hannah Critchlow is the Science Outreach Fellow at Magdalene College, University of Cambridge, and has been named a Top 100 UK Scientist by the Science Council for her work in science communication. Mentioned by Nature magazine as a rising star in the life sciences in 2019, she is listed as one of the University of Cambridge's 'inspirational and successful women in science' and appears regularly on TV, radio and at festivals to discuss and explore the brain.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Igor on July 07, 2019

Quotes: Talk to your toddler as much as possible - this affects their ability to learn language. Look your toddler in the eyes when you talk to them - this makes language learning much more effective. Physical exercise induces creation of new cells in the brain. (Research made in Uni of California in 1......more

Goodreads review by Tariq on February 23, 2022

Fate was defined by the Greeks was three goddesses who presided over the birth and life of humans. Each person's destiny was thought of as a thread spun, measured, and cut by the three Fates, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. So basically fate has always been pretty difficult to define and grasp. Fate's......more

Goodreads review by Mariana on May 27, 2021

Destino e neurociência. Inato e adquirido. Determinismo ou predisposições. Genética e ambiente. Velhas questões sempre atuais. Livre arbítrio condicionado, enquadrado permanentemente por uma biologia assaz rígida em certas diretrizes. Critchlow fala nos da ciência do desenvolvimento, com especial fo......more

Goodreads review by Sarah on January 07, 2022

Would recommend- it’s definitely interesting. Basically to sum it up, literally everything comes back to genetics from income to personality to education and free choice is a societal construct. E.g- IQ is only 50% genetic and 50% based of environmental factors including education.......more

Goodreads review by Nadia on July 10, 2024

Don’t judge a book by its cover ! While I don’t remember why and when I got this book on my kindle, I started reading it thinking I will be rolling my eyes after a chapter or so, but it proved the complete opposite!! Its so scientific, yet so simple for people who dont have the neuroscience backgroun......more


Quotes

'It's been the question that has inspired, stultified and petrified humanity across the millennia. What is our fate? From the goddess Nemesis to the theory of free will we've struggled. Until now. Acute, mind-opening, highly accessible - this book doesn't just explain how our lives might pan out, it helps us live better.'

'A humane and highly readable account of the neuroscience that underpins our ideas of free will and fate'

'A truly fascinating - if unnerving - read' The Telegraph