A readable work of popular science that reveals little-known facets of our worried, weary minds.
Noted physicist and science writer Mlodinow brings an up-to-date view of the neuroscience surrounding emotions.
In classical philosophy, emotions were viewed as separate from and opposite to rational thought. The latest view, informed by extensive brain studies, holds that emotions are different from but intimately connected with what we call deliberate thought in the form of decision-making and rational choice. “While rational thought allows us to draw logical conclusions based on our goals and relevant data,” Mlodinow writes, “emotion operates at a more abstract level—it affects the importance we assign to the goals and the weight we give to the data.” Sometimes it operates by tapping into more ancestral areas of the brain, touching on fight-or-flight instincts: If we hear a rustling in the bushes as we walk by them, is it the wind or a fierce predator? All mammals and many species of insects, Mlodinow writes, experience emotion as a feature of our shared “evolutionary heritage,” and the triggers are much the same. We feel our way around our environment, drawing on prior experience and using it as a guide, how we felt then conditioning how we feel now. This is not always healthy, however. Our fearful responses may not apply to every situation, but fear leads us to “assign higher than normal probabilities to alarming possibilities” that we may rationally know not to be so. As the author shows, our emotions are not uniform; some people are “quick to become anxious, while in others anxiety builds slowly,” and levels of happiness and sorrow are contingent on many factors. Whatever the instance, Mlodinow encourages readers to take time to better understand their own emotional makeup by developing an “emotional profile” that can lead to heightened self-awareness and, perhaps, even to greater peace of mind.
A readable work of popular science that reveals little-known facets of our worried, weary minds.Pub Date: Jan. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-524-74759-6
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Pantheon
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2021
A remarkably thorough and thoughtful case for the reconciliation between science and faith.
A duo of French mathematicians makes the scientific case for God in this nonfiction book.
Since its 2021 French-language publication in Paris, this work by Bolloré and Bonnassies has sold more than 400,000 copies. Now translated into English for the first time by West and Jones, the book offers a new introduction featuring endorsements from a range of scientists and religious leaders, including Nobel Prize-winning astronomers and Roman Catholic cardinals. This appeal to authority, both religious and scientific, distinguishes this volume from a genre of Christian apologetics that tends to reject, rather than embrace, scientific consensus. Central to the book’s argument is that contemporary scientific advancements have undone past emphases on materialist interpretations of the universe (and their parallel doubts of spirituality). According to the authors’ reasoned arguments, what now forms people’s present understanding of the universe—including quantum mechanics, relativity, and the Big Bang—puts “the question of the existence of a creator God back on the table,” given the underlying implications. Einstein’s theory of relativity, for instance, presupposes that if a cause exists behind the origin of the universe, then it must be atemporal, non-spatial, and immaterial. While the book’s contentions related to Christianity specifically, such as its belief in the “indisputable truths contained in the Bible,” may not be as convincing as its broader argument on how the idea of a creator God fits into contemporary scientific understanding, the volume nevertheless offers a refreshingly nuanced approach to the topic. From the work’s outset, the authors (academically trained in math and engineering) reject fundamentalist interpretations of creationism (such as claims that Earth is only 6,000 years old) as “fanciful beliefs” while challenging the philosophical underpinnings of a purely materialist understanding of the universe that may not fit into recent scientific paradigm shifts. Featuring over 500 pages and more than 600 research notes, this book strikes a balance between its academic foundations and an accessible writing style, complemented by dozens of photographs from various sources, diagrams, and charts.
A remarkably thorough and thoughtful case for the reconciliation between science and faith.Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9789998782402
Page Count: 562
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An unflinching self-portrait.
The tumultuous life of a bisexual, autistic comic.
In her debut memoir, Scottish comedian Brady recounts the emotional turmoil of living with undiagnosed autism. “The public perception of autistics is so heavily based on the stereotype of men who love trains or science,” she writes, “that many women miss out on diagnosis and are thought of as studious instead.” She was nothing if not studious, obsessively focused on foreign languages, but she found it difficult to converse in her own language. From novels, she tried to gain “knowledge about people, about how they spoke to each other, learning turns of phrase and metaphor” that others found so familiar. Often frustrated and overwhelmed by sensory overload, she erupted in violent meltdowns. Her parents, dealing with behavior they didn’t understand—including self-cutting—sent her to “a high-security mental hospital” as a day patient. Even there, a diagnosis eluded her; she was not accurately diagnosed until she was 34. Although intimate friendships were difficult, she depicts her uninhibited sexuality and sometimes raucous affairs with both men and women. “I grew up confident about my queerness,” she writes, partly because of “autism’s lack of regard for social norms.” While at the University of Edinburgh, she supported herself as a stripper. “I liked that in a strip club men’s contempt of you was out in the open,” she admits. “In the outside world, misogyny was always hovering in your peripheral vision.” When she worked as a reporter for the university newspaper, she was assigned to try a stint as a stand-up comic and write about it; she found it was work she loved. After “about a thousand gigs in grim little pubs across England,” she landed an agent and embarked on a successful career. Although Brady hopes her memoir will “make things feel better for the next autistic or misfit girl,” her anger is as evident as her compassion.
An unflinching self-portrait.Pub Date: June 6, 2023
ISBN: 9780593582503
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Harmony
Review Posted Online: March 10, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2023
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