A Mind of Its Own: How Your Brain Distorts and Deceives

"This is a really important and little understood issue. It is also fascinating. The implications are huge; think of the courts, the media, the democratic process. It deserves a really good book; I just wish this was it.

This is a book for a lay audience. It romps through a range of research findings in relatively few pages without getting too deep, which is both an advantage and a weakness. It is now 15 years since I was last interested in the subject and had hoped that the book would update me. In this I was disappointed. I found parts that were new to me but there is also some very relevant work (for example on visual perception) that was not covered. The text is well referenced but, apart from some information on the web, unless you have access to an academic library that is not much use.

I would have liked more detail, especially to judge whether the strength of the effect in question. Psychology research is notoriously difficult, in part because the researchers themselves are subject to some of the biases described in the book. It is much more difficult to control variables, prove causation and eliminate biases in psychology than, for example, in chemistry. The subject matter - humans - are so much more complex and the involvement of the researcher is more personal. To illustrate this, I thought that after an interesting section on stereotypes, the author herself fell into the trap of exhibiting a clear stereotype of males in a rather feminist approach to sexism. Incidentally, she also missed the opportunity to think more deeply about stereotypes which are not as negative as often painted.

The diversions into the authors private life were slightly irritating. Presumably she is vitally interested in her new born but she shouldn't assume the reader is similarly inclined. We picked up the book for quite a different reason.

The book started by explaining that it was written in a hurry during a busy period in the authors life. I am afraid that is how it felt, hurried and superficial. Despite that, if the subject is new to you, I would still recommend it. It does teach you to be a little less confident about what you know 'for sure'.
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~ Written on 2008-05-07

"Excellent popsci writing and editing -- couldn't put it down. Other popsci writers should observe and learn."
~ Written on 2007-10-12

"This is an excellent book. Cordelia Fine gathers together the results of a wide variety of psychology experiments and uses them to gather together a convincing explanation of how our subconsciouses are the real masters of our mind, no matter what we think.

The book starts off a little too 'chatty' but as well as more jokey considerations such as the problems many of us have trying to tell our brains to switch off when our bodies want to go to sleep, there is some serious cause for thought here- such as the research about how our own mood has been proven to affect which moods we perceive on other people's faces, and then particularly in the chapter "The Bigoted Brain" that gives examples of how subtly influenced and 'primed' we may be by images we see of the opposite sex, or people of other skin colours to our own. It is a thought-provoking book, you should read it and feel a little bit ashamed for having a brain at all...

The book is extremely readable, thanks to a very balanced writing style and also by the way in which the more dry scientific information is all relegated into the Notes And References section at the back of the book- meaning that you can read the main text without being troubled by too many obscure names of scientists or processes, or you can read every reference to get a more information-heavy read-through.

Highly recommended."
~ Written on 2007-09-08

"This is an awesome book. It details how the brain (unconsciously) deceives itself and how susceptible we are to factors we are just unaware of. Amusingly written and the information it presents is just plain scary. If you thought you had an unbiased view of the world, THINK AGAIN! I cannot recommend it highly enough."
~ Written on 2007-06-21

"This book was thrown up as a recommendation by Amazon based on previous purchases - yes, advertising does work! And I'm pleased that I followed this particular recommendation.

Cordelia Fine has collected together research conducted by psychologists which illuminates how our brains function. But this is done in fairly broad brushstrokes. Anyone wanting a textbook on neurophysiology should look elsewhere. This could still have resulted in a very inaccessible book but this is not the case here. Her writing style is beautifully clear and lucid and I enjoyed her self-deprecating humour.

There are odd moments when you find yourself immersed in the details of some experiment but it is not long before you are drawn back into the warmth of some anecdote concerning her relationship with her husband. Indeed the frequent windows which are opened onto her marriage give this book a humanity which is most appealing.

A book which left me feeling charmed and educated in equal measures."
~ Written on 2007-01-08