Can we trust our senses to tell us the truth?Challenging leading scientific theories that claim that our senses report back objective reality, cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman argues that while we should take our perceptions seriously, we should not take them literally. From examining why fashion designers create clothes that give the illusion of a more “attractive” body shape to studying how companies use color to elicit specific emotions in consumers, and even ...

Can we trust our senses to tell us the truth?Challenging leading scientific theories that claim that our senses report back objective reality, cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman argues that while we should take our perceptions seriously, we should not take them literally. How can it be possible that the world we see is not objective reality? And how can our senses be useful if they are not communicating the truth? Hoffman grapples with these questions and more over...

Psychologists study which cognitive operations underpin a given conscious perception. Neuroscientists track the neural correlates of consciousness in the brain, the organ of the mind. But why the brain and not, say, the liver? How can the brain, three pounds of highly excitable matter, a piece of furniture in the universe, subject to the same laws of physics as any other piece, give rise to subjective experience? Koch argues that what is needed to answer these questions is a quantitative t...

A thought-provoking argument that consciousness—more widespread than previously assumed—is the feeling of being alive, not a type of computation or a clever hackIn The Feeling of Life Itself, Christof Koch offers a straightforward definition of consciousness as any subjective experience, from the most mundane to the most exalted—the feeling of being alive. Psychologists study which cognitive operations underpin a given conscious perception. Neuroscientists...

OUR SKIES ARE FILLED WITH TROJAN HORSES...“The real UFO story must encompass all of the many manifestations being observed. It is a story of ghosts and phantoms and strange mental aberrations; of an invisible world that surrounds us and occasionally engulfs us; of prophets and prophecies, and gods and demons. It is a world of illusion and hallucination where the unreal seems very real, and where reality itself is distorted by strange forces which can seemingly manipulate space, tim...

Do multiple versions of ourselves exist in parallel universes living out their lives in different timelines? In this follow up to his bestseller, The Simulation Hypothesis, MIT Computer Scientist and Silicon Valley Game Pioneer Rizwan Virk explores these topics from a new lens: that of simulation theory.If we are living in a simulated universe, composed of information that is rendered around us, then many of the complexities and baffling characteristics of our reality start to make...

A revelatory look at why we dehumanize each other, with stunning examples from world history as well as today's headlines.Winner of the 2012 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Nonfiction"Smith's compelling study and his argument that the study of dehumanization be made a global priority to prevent future Rwandas or Hiroshimas is well made and important." — Publishers Weekly"Brute." "Cockroach." "Lice." "Vermin."...

An enlightening look at animal behavior and the cycle of life and death, from "one of the finest naturalists of our time" (Edward O. Wilson).When a good friend with a severe illness wrote, asking if he might have his "green burial" at Bernd Heinrich's hunting camp in Maine, it inspired the acclaimed biologist to investigate a subject that had long fascinated him. How exactly does the animal world deal with the flip side of the life cycle? And what are the lessons, ...

AMAZON BEST BOOKS OF 2019 PICKFORTUNE WRITERS AND EDITORS' RECOMMENDED BOOKS OF 2019 PICK"User Friendly is a tour de force, an engrossing fusion of scholarly research, professional experience and revelations from intrepid firsthand reporting."—EDWARD TENNER, The New York Times Book ReviewIn User Friendly, Cliff Kuang and Robert Fabricant reveal the untold story of ...

An argument that what makes science distinctive is its emphasis on evidence and scientists' willingness to change theories on the basis of new evidence.Attacks on science have become commonplace. Claims that climate change isn't settled science, that evolution is “only a theory,” and that scientists are conspiring to keep the truth about vaccines from the public are staples of some politicians' rhetorical repertoire. Defenders of science often point to its discover...

"A breath of intellectual fresh air . . . [an] amusing look at how to dispel endemic pseudoscience and conspiracy theories through rational thinking." — Publishers WeeklyAliens. Ley lines. Water dowsing. Conspiracies and myths captivate imaginations and promise mystery and magic. Whether it's arguing about the moon landing hoax or a Frisbee-like Earth drifting through space, when held up to science and critical thinking, these ideas fall flat.In ...

In this "marvel of storytelling," a journalist pursues the mysteries of human navigation across continents and deep within the brain ( Kirkus Reviews, starred review).Biologists have been trying to solve the mystery of how organisms have the ability to migrate and orient with such precision—especially since our own adventurous ancestors spread across the world without maps or instruments. In Wayfinding, M.R. O'Connor goes to the Arctic, the Austral...