SEVEN (7) LAWS OF MAGICAL THINKING: How Irrational Beliefs Keep Us Happy, Healthy, and Sane by Matt Hutson Hudson Street Press, 2012 (296 pages) OUTLINE OF BOOK'S FACTS & IDEAS 4-9-16 Note: Check book's online presence at: www.magicalthinkingbook.com INTRODUCTION — We're all believers (1- OBJECTS CARRY ESSENCES — Cooties, contagion, and historicity (11- SYMBOLS HAVE POWER — Spells, ceremonies, and the law of similarity (37- ACTIONS HAVE DISTANT CONSEQUENCES — Using superstition to make luck work for you (61- THE MIND KNOWS NO BOUNDS — Psychokinesis, esp, and transcendence (93- THE SOUL LIVES ON — Death is not the end of us (125- THE WORLD IS ALIVE — Animals, objects, and gods are people, too (163- EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON — You've got a date with destiny (195- EPILOGUE — THE WORLD IS SACRED: A stab at a secular spirituality (239- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (251- NOTES (253- FURTHER READING AND SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY (283- INDEX (287- AUTHOR NOTE, SUMMARY, AND BOOK DESCRIPTION AUTHOR NOTE = A former news editor at Psychology Today, Matthew Hutson has a BS in cognitive neuroscience from Brown University and an MS in science writing from MIT. He has written for Discover, Popular Mechanics, Scientific American Mind, and The New York Times Magazine. He lives in New York City. Visit magicalthinkingbook.com. – Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc. SUMMARY = In this witty and perceptive debut, a former editor at Psychology Today shows us how magical thinking makes life worth living. Psychologists have documented a litany of cognitive biases — miss-perceptions of the world — and explained their positive functions. Now, the book shows us that even the most hardcore skeptic indulges in magical thinking all the time — and it's crucial to our survival. BOOK DESCRIPTION = Drawing on evolution, cognitive science, and neuroscience, the book shows us that magical thinking has been so useful to us that it's hardwired into our brains. It encourages us to think that we actually have free will. It helps make us believe that we have an underlying purpose in the world. It can even protect us from the paralyzing awareness of our own mortality. In other words, magical thinking is a completely irrational way of making our lives make rational sense. With wonderfully entertaining stories, personal reflections, and sharp observations, Hutson reveals our deepest fears and longings. He also assures us that it is no accident his surname contains so many of the same letters as this imprint. PROFESSIONAL BOOK REVIEWS LIBRARY JOURNAL REVIEW = When you blow out the candles on your birthday cake, do you make a wish? And do you think that birthday wish will come true? Hutson (blogger and former news editor, Psychology Today) draws from many fields to form an analysis of why people think what they think when there may not be any proof or scientific validity for thinking it. He begins with base biological necessity, explaining how biological purity led to belief in sacred objects: for example, eating tainted meat can cause illness or death, and this precaution led to the kosher diet's origin. From there, readers are taken on a whirlwind tour through the power of will, the statistics of coincidence, the meaning of metanoia, and up to the sacred aspects of the world and how magical thinking has "got us to where we are and, for better or worse, it will take us to where we're going." The book makes the argument that "magical thinking" provides a sense of control as well as meaning: things we humans cannot live without. Verdict A colloquial rant that reads more like philosophy than psychology. Still, this title will be informative and enjoyable for the general reader.-Nadine Dalton Speidel, Cuyahoga Cty. P.L., Parma, OH 2011. Library Journals LLC, Media Source, Inc. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY REVIEW = In this sprightly pop-psychology treatise, Hutson roots our most pixilated notions in extensions and overgeneralizations of the same mental processes that cope with cold reality. The brain's penchant for recognizing patterns, he contends, prompts us to discern God's mysterious ways behind random misfortunes and correlate superstitious rituals with lucky happenstances. Our biologically programmed ideas about contagion invests inanimate objects with the auras of celebrities who touched them. Our socially adaptive attunement to human mental states makes us think nature is suffused with conscious intent, and imagine that our minds can telekinetically move the world. And our capacity for abstract thought lets even atheists have faith in a symbolic afterlife. Hutson's lucid and entertaining treatment blends brain science, evolutionary theory, and cultural commentary on everything from spells and amulets to the rap duo Insane Clown Posse. He's not exactly a believer, but he sees the psychological and social value in people believing themselves to be magically lucky, empowered, and connected to a caring and morally responsive universe. This illuminating exploration of the science of unscientific convictions by a former news editor at Psychology Today nicely balances bemused skepticism with warm appreciation for the mind's fanciful, functional creativity. BOOKLIST REVIEW = Even if you're a hard-core skeptic who walks under ladders, Hutson writes in this very interesting book, you believe in magic. That's because magic, at least the way Hutson defines it here, isn't just about sorcerers and spells and sleight-of-hand (although those things do play a role). Magic, Hutson argues, is the way we tend to blur the line between subjectivity and objectivity the way we become attached to objects with historical or emotional significance (collectibles, for instance), or the way we see symbols of things as the things themselves (a flag is not merely a flag but the country it represents). Packed with references to pop culture Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock, sf writer Philip K. Dick the book is, at its heart, a look at how we restructure the world around us to match our own perceptions of it. Hutson also touches on such topics as voodoo, superstition, and destiny, showing how each is fundamentally tied to our perceptions of them. Thought-provoking and highly readable. – David Pitt. instantly return to: ALPHABETIZED BRAIN BOOK LIST: S produced by Infinite Interactive Ideas™