An engaging appraisal of intuition, undermined by a cavalier dismissal of religion.
A scientific critique of the rational limitations of intuition.
Human consciousness, or the capacity for self-identification, provided mankind with a considerable evolutionary advantage. According to research chemist Johnson (Had Enough of God Yet?, 2017, etc.), self-awareness functioned as the basis for collaboration, communication, and ultimately, the formation of communities. However, the same consciousness raised questions that couldn’t be adequately answered about the nature of the material world. In the absence of systematic rational inquiry, writes the author, we filled in blanks with intuition; we conjured poetic narratives that accounted for our place in the world and provided a sense of security and purpose. Intuition is the source of religion, Johnson says, with its postulations of God and the immortal soul. The author argues that although intuition has practical and theoretical value—it allows us to quickly respond to danger and generate scientific hypotheses—it’s generally unreliable as an instrument for understanding the world. In fact, he says, it’s an endless fount of egregious falsehood, responsible for grotesque errors, ranging from racism to belief in the supernatural. Religion, he asserts, is the “junk of intuition,” as well as a source of violent, sectarian conflict, and it often operates contrary to human survival. In this book, Johnson predicts a future in which reason triumphs over intuition, and he offers a comprehensive neurochemical explanation of human consciousness. The author’s study is certainly wide-ranging, discussing the ideas of modern American philosopher Daniel Dennett, ancient Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus, and 19th-century French thinker Alexis de Tocqueville, to name a few. He presents his research on intuition rigorously and lucidly, and he intrepidly courts controversy. As a chemist, Johnson’s command of the pertinent scientific material is beyond reproach. However, he doesn’t address the long tradition of philosophical defenses of religion, even by those sympathetic to science; instead, he simply assumes all faiths are imaginative fictions. This intransigent dogmatism expresses itself repeatedly in the peremptory tone of his prose; at one point, for instance, he refers to theology as “absolutely worthless.”
An engaging appraisal of intuition, undermined by a cavalier dismissal of religion.Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-5006-1371-6
Page Count: 234
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
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These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.
A helpful guide to working effectively with people from other cultures.
“The sad truth is that the vast majority of managers who conduct business internationally have little understanding about how culture is impacting their work,” writes Meyer, a professor at INSEAD, an international business school. Yet they face a wider array of work styles than ever before in dealing with clients, suppliers and colleagues from around the world. When is it best to speak or stay quiet? What is the role of the leader in the room? When working with foreign business people, failing to take cultural differences into account can lead to frustration, misunderstanding or worse. Based on research and her experiences teaching cross-cultural behaviors to executive students, the author examines a handful of key areas. Among others, they include communicating (Anglo-Saxons are explicit; Asians communicate implicitly, requiring listeners to read between the lines), developing a sense of trust (Brazilians do it over long lunches), and decision-making (Germans rely on consensus, Americans on one decider). In each area, the author provides a “culture map scale” that positions behaviors in more than 20 countries along a continuum, allowing readers to anticipate the preferences of individuals from a particular country: Do they like direct or indirect negative feedback? Are they rigid or flexible regarding deadlines? Do they favor verbal or written commitments? And so on. Meyer discusses managers who have faced perplexing situations, such as knowledgeable team members who fail to speak up in meetings or Indians who offer a puzzling half-shake, half-nod of the head. Cultural differences—not personality quirks—are the motivating factors behind many behavioral styles. Depending on our cultures, we understand the world in a particular way, find certain arguments persuasive or lacking merit, and consider some ways of making decisions or measuring time natural and others quite strange.
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.Pub Date: May 27, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61039-250-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
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