SUBLIMINAL: HOW YOUR UNCONSCIOUS MIND RULES YOUR BEHAVIOR by Leonard Mlodinow. Pantheon, 2012 (272 pages) OUTLINE OF BOOKS FACTS & IDEAS PROLOGUE (3-8) PART 1 — THE TWO-TIERED BRAIN (9-104) 1) THE NEW UNCONSCIOUS (11-29) 2) SENSES PLUS MIND EQUALS REALITY (30-51) 3) REMEMBERING AND FORGETTING (52-78) 4) THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING SOCIAL (79-104) PART 2— THE SOCIAL UNCONSCIOUS (105-218) 5) READING PEOPLE (107)-125) 6) JUDGING PEOPLE BY THEIR COVERS (126-144) 7) SORTING PEOPLE AND THINGS (145-160) 8) IN-GROUPS AND OUT-GROUPS (161-175) 9) FEELINGS (176-195) 10) SELF (196-218) ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (221-222) NOTES (223-247) INDEX (249-260) Brain = 250 Parallel processing = 256 AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY = Leonard Mlodinow was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1954. He received bachelor's degrees in math and physics and a master's degree in physics from Brandeis University and a PhD in theoretical physics from the University of California, Berkeley. He was a Bantrell Research Fellow in Theoretical Physics at the California Institute of Technology, and then became an Alexander von Humboldt fellow at the Max-Planck-Institute for Physics and Astrophysics in Munich, Germany. In the 1980s, he wrote for numerous television shows including MacGyver, Star Trek: the Next Generation, and Night Court. In 1993, he decided to switch to computer gaming and became producer, executive producer and designer of several award-winning games. From 1997 to 2003, he was the vice president for software development and then vice president and publisher for math education at Scholastic Inc. In 2005, he began teaching at the California Institute of Technology. He is now a full-time writer. His books include Euclid's Window, Feynman's Rainbow, A Briefer History of Time with Stephen Hawking, The Drunkard's Walk, The Grand Design with Stephen Hawking, and War of the Worldviews with Deepak Chopra. He has also written two children's books with Matt Costello: The Last Dinosaur and Titanic Cat. (Bowker Author Biography) – Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc. SUMMARY = The best-selling author of The Drunkard's Walk and coauthor of The Grand Design (with Stephen Hawking), gives us an examination of how the unconscious mind shapes our experience of the world and how, for instance, we often misperceive our relationships with family, friends, and business associates, misunderstand the reasons for our investment decisions, and misremember important events. BOOK DESCRIPTION = 2012 = Leonard Mlodinow, the best-selling author of The Drunkard's Walk and coauthor of The Grand Design (with Stephen Hawking), gives us a startling and eye-opening examination of how the unconscious mind shapes our experience of the world and how, for instance, we often misperceive our relationships with family, friends, and business associates, misunderstand the reasons for our investment decisions, and misremember important events. Your preference in politicians, the amount you tip your waiter—all judgments and perceptions reflect the workings of our mind on two levels: the conscious, of which we are aware, and the unconscious, which is hidden from us. The latter has long been the subject of speculation, but over the past two decades researchers have developed remarkable new tools for probing the hidden, or subliminal, workings of the mind. The result of this explosion of research is a new science of the unconscious and a sea change in our understanding of how the subliminal mind affects the way we live. Employing his trademark wit and lucid, accessible explanations of the most obscure scientific subjects, Leonard Mlodinow takes us on a tour of this research, unraveling the complexities of the subliminal self and increasing our understanding of how the human mind works and how we interact with friends, strangers, spouses, and coworkers. In the process he changes our view of ourselves and the world around us. GUEST REVIEWER = V.S. Ramachandran on Subliminal = V.S. Ramachandran is a neuroscientist known for his work in the fields of behavioral neurology and visual psychophysics. The author of The Tell-Tale Brain, He is the Director of the Center for Brain and Cognition, and is currently a Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Neurosciences Graduate Program at the University of California, San Diego. This delightfully accessible yet intellectually rigorous book transcends traditional boundaries between neuroscience, psychology and philosophy, to tackle the riddle of the unconscious mind. Freud bashing is a popular intellectual pastime these days (I myself have been guilty on occasion) but Mlodinow shows that by emphasizing the unconscious he was on the right track: we are completely unaware of the vast majority of events going on inside our brains. The book presents compelling evidence gleaned from a variety of sources to show that much of our behavior is governed not so much by our conscious mind – which is prone to claim credit – but by a cauldron of motives, drives and unconscious propensities of which we are largely oblivious. Indeed, most of our actions are carried out by the unconscious mind (or minds ) which exists in peaceful harmony with the conscious person "inside" your body. The question of why we are conscious of the tip of the iceberg of neural activity continues to remain elusive but, perhaps, the answer can be found by asking what you can do without being conscious; What's the IQ of the unconscious mind? Here Mlodinow offers dazzling new insights into what the unconscious can and does do, to influence our lives. LIBRARY JOURNAL REVIEW = We are not always in control of our thoughts and decisions. In fact, physicist and science writer Mlodinow (The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives) states, "much of our social perception-like our vision, hearing and memory-appears to proceed along pathways not associated with awareness, intention, or conscious effort." Mlodinow examines the role of the unconscious in everyday decision making, demonstrating that much of the activity we think is under our voluntary control is not. Brain imaging studies in social science experiments have confirmed many findings of experimental psychology: the unconscious, programmed for survival, operates in parallel processes, independently of the conscious mind. Given choices, the unconscious prefers the positive, favors the attractive, values nonverbal cues, and may select the irrational. Mlodinow goes on to discuss the subliminal aspects of common social situations from dating to voting. VERDICT Many of the these topics have been similarly examined in Shankar Vedantam's The Hidden Brain, though Mlodinow introduces the new field of social neuroscience. [See Prepub Alert, 11/14/11.]-Lucille M. Boone, San Jose P.L., CA (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. BOOKLIST REVIEW = It can be very tricky to distinguish between behavior that is conscious and behavior that is habitual. We perform numerous automatic tasks every day, mostly unaware that we're doing them. We act on autopilot even as we also make one conscious decision after another. This very enlightening book explores the two sides of our mental lives, with a focus on the subconscious or subliminal element. More than ever before, researchers are discovering that our perceptions are filtered through the subliminal processes of our minds, that we actually see the world according to our unconscious mind's expectations and assessments. Drawing on clinical research conducted over a period of several decades and containing a number of rather startling revelations such as the at-first-glance counterintuitive fact that people who are briefly touched on the arm are more likely to order the dinner special in a restaurant, sign a petition, and buy food after sampling it for free the book appeals to readers with an interest in the workings of the human mind.--Pitt, David Copyright 2010 BooklistDistributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc. AMAZON REVIEWS = "This very enlightening book explores the two sides of our mental lives, with a focus on the subconscious or subliminal element. Drawing on clinical research conducted over a period of several decades and containing a number of rather startling revelations . . . the book appeals to readers with an interest in the workings of the human mind." – Booklist "One of the ten books to watch out for in 2012 . . . Physicist, science writer and Hollywood screenwriter Leonard Mlodinow is out to explore how important the unconscious is in shaping the way we process the world." – NewScientist.com "Mlodinow never fails to make science both accessible and entertaining." – Stephen Hawking, author of A Brief History of Time "Think you know the whys and hows of your choices? Follow Mlodinow on a gorgeous journey that will make you think again." – David Eagleman, author of Incognito "With the same deft touch he showed in The Drunkard's Walk, Mlodinow probes the subtle, automatic, and often unnoticed influences on our behavior." – Daniel J. Simons, professor of psychology, University of Illinois, and coauthor of The Invisible Gorilla "If you liked The Drunkard's Walk, you'll love Subliminal. This engaging and insightful book not only makes neuroscience understandable, it also makes it fascinating. You will look at yourself (and those around you) in a new way." – Joseph T. Hallinan, author of Why We Make Mistakes "A must-read book that is both provocative and hugely entertaining. Mlodinow provides many eye-opening insights into the ways we act in business, finance, politics, and our personal lives." – Jerry A. Webman, chief economist, OppenheimerFunds, Inc., and author of MoneyShift "A highly readable, funny, and thought-provoking travelogue by Mlodinow, a trusted traveler in this treacherous region, who leads us on a tour of the little-known country that is our unconscious mind." – Christof Koch, professor of cognitive and behavioral biology, California Institute of Technology Instantly return to: LIST OF BRAIN BOOKS