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By: PT Staff
Summary:
PT reviews: The Ethical
Brain, Freakonomics: A rogue
economist explores the
hidden side of everything.
The Glass Castle, Mediated:
How the media shapes your
world and the way you live
in it. And Against
Depression.
NOTE: CLICK COVERS FOR MORE
INFO OR TO ORDER!
The Ethical Brain
By Michael S.
Gazzaniga (Dana Press)
Cognitive
neuroscientist
Gazzaniga conducted
the groundbreaking
research that gave us
the popular terms
"left-brained" and
"right-brained." Now
he calls on both sides
of his brain to write
a book that's part
science and part
philosophy, making a
convincing plea for an
ethical code informed
by scientific
understanding. Science
illuminates not only
controversial issues,
but also the
structures of the
brain that evaluate
moral decisions. By
understanding how we
make difficult
choices, Gazzaniga
hopes we can make
those choices better.
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Freakonomics: A
rogue economist
explores the hidden
side of everything
By Steven D.
Levitt and Stephen J.
Dubner (William
Morrow)
Why did crime fall in
the 1990s? The data
say: the legalization
of abortion in the
1970s. Why do drug
dealers live with
their mothers? The
data say: Drug-dealing
is actually a
minimum-wage job. Star
economist Levitt and
star journalist Dubner
are convinced that a
clear-eyed look at the
numbers can answer
every social question
and overturn all
conventional wisdom.
Fascinating, but
limited. Rather than
tackle the
complexities of actual
human beings, the
data-dog authors
prefer to rummage
through the statistics
we humans leave
behind.
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The Glass Castle
By Jeannette Walls
(Scribner)
In her memoir, Walls
recounts the
unconventional
childhood she and her
siblings spent
traveling across the
southwest, led by an
unruly father and an
eccentric mother. The
family comes up with
creative ways to cope
with being constantly
poor, like celebrating
Christmas one week
late to take advantage
of the trees that
other families throw
out. The book deals
with dark and
disturbing subject
matter like alcoholism
and poverty, but Walls
writes with unabashed
honesty and humor
throughout.
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Mediated: How the
media shapes your
world and the way you
live in it
By Thomas de
Zengotita (Bloomsbury)
Does the type of
mouthwash you use
reflect who you really
are? Will you be the
kind of parent who
gives birth at home or
in a hospital? Will
you videotape the
delivery? Will you use
a Webcam? In a
media-saturated
culture of endless
choices, the realms of
personality and
reality fuse and
diffuse, becoming what
anthropologist
Zengotita calls "the
Blob." In his new
book, Zengotita guides
us through the media
Blob, in which
episodes of reality TV
are staged and
spontaneous events
feel rehearsed. |
Against Depression
By Peter D. Kramer
(Viking)
We romanticize
depression as a
wellspring of finer
thought, as the source
of melancholic insight
for artists, deep
thinkers and sensitive
souls. We shouldn't,
says psychiatrist
Kramer, author of
Listening to Prozac.
Suffering doesn't
create genius.
Depression is a
disease as dangerous
and debilitating as
cancer, and the human
species would be
better off if it were
eradicated. His
critics ask: What if
Van Gogh had taken
Prozac? Kramer's
answer: more, and more
beautiful, paintings. |
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Last Child In The
Woods: Saving Our
Children From
Nature-Deficit
Disorder
By Richard Louv
(Algonquin Books of
Chapel Hill)
Running around in the
woods and playing in
tree houses are
essential to growing
up. Today, children
spend more time in
front of their
computers than
outside, and Louv
thinks that's a big
problem. He argues
that creativity and
learning ability are
closely tied to our
experience of the
natural world, and
that "nature deficit
disorder" may hinder
mental and physical
development. Louv
suggests how parents,
schools, architects
and governments can
foster an environment
that places more
emphasis on nature.
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Article courtesy of
www.psychologytoday.com
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