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| Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind | 
| Author: Gary Marcus
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co
Category: Book
List Price: $24.00
Buy New: $11.49
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Avg. Customer Rating:  66 reviews
Sales Rank: 14156
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 224
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.8 x 0.9
ISBN: 0618879641
Dewey Decimal Number: 153
EAN: 9780618879649
ASIN: 0618879641
Publication Date: April 16, 2008
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| Customer Reviews:
 The Human Brain: A Marvelous but Flawed Hodgepodge March 27, 2008
12 out of 15 found this review helpful
Gary Marcus' KLUGE: THE HAPHAZARD CONSTRUCTION OF THE HUMAN MIND offers cogent evidence that the human brain is not the product of a supernatural engineer but is, instead, the result of thousands of years of frequently haphazard evolutionary adaptations. That's not to say that the human brain isn't a marvel of nature (it is!) nor does Marcus claim that humans aren't capable of amazing acts of cognition (they are!). Marcus is simply pointing out that there are faults or shortcomings in the "engineering" of the human brain, which themselves demonstrate that our mental faculties are merely a biological kluge that has been pieced together by evolution as our ancestors faced the need for more or different types of survival tools. Study of our mental shortcomings, Marcus says, not only helps us to understand the way that evolution works in general--that is, biological mutations and adaptations are, by necessity, built on top of previous mutations and adaptations--it also offers opportunities for us to better understand the specific evolution of our race. In addition, Marcus shows how an understanding of the mental and intellectual foibles of our species can help us, as individuals, maximize the positive functions of our brain and minimize the negative shortcomings.
While Marcus writes for an educated audience and offers up numerous studies and research projects to back up his argument, KLUGE is not a stuffy academic document. It is written in a colloquial style that as fun to read as it is informative, and any intelligent person with an open mind will find the book to be a quick read that is both thought provoking and entertaining. Highly recommended for anybody who would like a better understanding of the kluge that is their brain.
Fascinating... March 21, 2008
2 out of 8 found this review helpful
Gary Marcus takes an in-depth look at the origins of the word "kluge", and along the way discovers that we are indeed able to make better use of our brain if we think outside the box.
Noooooo...
Really?
A little bit of right-brain thinking for... everyone?
Revolutionary!
In all seriousness... the brain-bender the book offered up was this.
"People people left left."
Is this truly that complicated?
Did no one study grammar?
Or can we just blame it on or credit it to evolution?
Remarkably, very little mention of environment, heredity, genetics, and conditioning are made.
Why bother, after all, they hardly have anything to do with the way one thinks...
Anyone who has read anything on critical thinking, lateral thinking, studied logic, or is interested in linguistics will not find anything particularly new in this book.
Was it worth reading? Yes.
Was it groundbreaking? No.
I suggest anything by either Stephen Pinker or Oliver Sacks, if you're looking for a more scholarly and less empirical book.
Everything I thought... I think! March 21, 2008
6 out of 10 found this review helpful
An amazing and, when you get down to it, completely nonintuitive idea that then makes perfect sense! Anyone with a brain should really read this book.
An evolutionary focus on the human mind March 20, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
For me this was an interesting read. However, I am admittedly interested in evolutionary theory. I would not recommend this book to anyone who is offended by Dawkins or Stephen Jay Gould. This is definitely not a book for literalist creationists.
What this book is, is a mix of academic research and pop culture. The author switches from Psychological research studies and pointing you to check out youtube videos. It is an interesting blend.
the main thesis of the book is that our brain is not the most efficient design but rather an evolved tool that is built on primitive predesecers that leaves us with some fautly logic, decision making and beliefs. The author does a good job supporting our limitations by showing that our referential thought processes can lead us faulty perceptions and conclusions.
He spends a lot of time discussing such topics as Confirmational bias which is sometimes a lens he does not point on himself. At times he seems he is blinded to religious faith being nothing more than a "short fall" of our minds attempt for comforting solutions almost to the point of judgement.
One interesting part of the book is the last chapter where he gives advice to help overcome your minds limitations by giving concepts for challenging your initial perceptions.
All in all, a worthwhile read, definitely challenges your perceptions of the world around you.
Exploring the clunky jalopy that is the human mind March 17, 2008
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
"Kluge" is a usually fascinating tour through the cranky transmission, balky steering and cluttered glove compartments of the human mind. Using examples and experimental results, Author Gary Marcus discusses the way that evolution has layered new and more complex mental structures atop more primitive ones. Evolution works with what it has on hand, adapting and altering existing structures, and rarely (if ever) creating anything "de novo." Human memory, for instance, which relies on contextual clues to work its magic, compares badly with computer memory. While a computer knows exactly where to find a data element it stores, human memory must rely on clues and hints to locate its data. Anyone who has ever played a trivia game knows this -- the more clues you get, the more likely the right answer is to "pop" out of memory. Marcus argues that this sort of design is far from optimal. But from an evolutionary point of view, the human brain need not be perfect -- only good enough to get the job done. While this might be useful in a primitive context, and interesting from a dispassionately scientific point of view, being saddled with a contextual memory can be tragic when relied upon for precise information -- say when testifying at a murder trial. Apart from memory, Marcus examines human belief and language, showing how the human mind in many ways is just barely able to function at higher levels. Consider an airplane pilot who needs a checklist to remembers to let the wheels down before landings, the people who respond differently to statistically equivalent scenarios expressed in different ways or the irksome ambiguities of language.
I have two criticism of the book. One is that Marcus presumes to be a pioneer, displaying the maddening habit of naming mental processes as through he were the first to study them. While it's interesting to describe newer human mental faculties as "deliberative" and their older precursors as "reflexive," it seems presumptuous for a scientist of Marcus's caliber to be labeling these processes as though for the first time. The other criticism is a standard one in psychology, in which fascinating studies leading to seemingly surprising and shocking results are cited as though their conclusions were unambiguous and irrefutable. I, for instance, do not buy the study that claimed that Peter Jennings smiled more during stories about Ronald Reagan than in stories about Michael Dukakis. Jennings called the study's author a "jackass" and I do as well.
About 1/4 of the way through "Kluge," I put the book down for several weeks out of pique over these shortcomings. But I did eventually pick it up again, if only to clear one of the Vine spaces it was taking up. I was fairly glad I did. Swallowing a grain of salt regarding the "spectacular" finds of psychology, and insulating myself with tolerance for the author's ego, I found much food for thought in the volume. By illuminating quirks in human thinking, Marcus made his point about the shoddy construction of the human mind, thereby establishing it as another a jerry-rigged product of evolution. Take the story of the person who sinks $100 into one "okay" ski weekend and $50 into another ski weekends they know they'll enjoy more. This person then discovers that the tickets are for the same weekend, and must chose between them. It's easy to sympathize with the person who illogically chooses the higher-priced weekend, even though they'll get more pleasure from the cheaper trip, in an effort to recoup the "sunk cost" of the more expensive trip. "Kluge" offers more examples of this type (though it could have used many more) in order to make its points.
Somewhere, there is a fantastic book, chock-full of examples and experiments, that helps the non-scientist understand the quirks of the human mind and how these are consistent with a brain shaped by natural selection. In the meanwhile, "Kluge" will have to do. But I do appreciate Marcus's attempt. If nothing else, he has made me perpetually skeptical of those who attempt to explain seeming failings of the human mind (like it's inability to find lost car keys and last year's taxes) as being somehow optimal in design. It's one thing to demonstrate that a peripheral human attribute, like hip design, might be shaped by natural selection. But to show, with some success, that the human mind is liable to the same evolutionary pressures is courageous and laudable.
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