Books on Brains -- and Why We Must Learn from Them

A number of people have asked me the title of the book I mentioned at the Arlington Arts Center event last night (September 10, 2009), when I referred to the Funniest Joke in the World, the social nature of laughter, and the importance of face-to-face interaction as one portion of the Creative Arlington model. That book is Mind Wide Open, by author Stephen Johnson. It is a very fast read -- took me less than an evening -- and it raises some provocative and clever questions about how we think.

Johnson's book is along the same lines as the excellent Brain Rules, by John Medina, and Stumbling Into Happiness, by Daniel Gilbert. These books explain, in accessible and entertaining fashion, that we are undergoing a revolution in our understanding about human brain function. Those who harness the new tools are going to excel. A crude, 20th-century understanding of psychology and brain function is no longer a viable model for interpreting human action.

Another, more perplexing book about brain function is Inevitable Illusions, by Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini. Read this book with an open mind, and you will never again have the hubris to state that you are unequivocally rational. His discussion is both humbling and profoundly insightful.