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“With great wit and intelligence, Mlodinow takes us on a sweeping tour of this [mental] landscape and the latest revelations in neuroscience.” —The Huffington Post
“Mlodinow plunges into the realm of the unconscious mind accompanied by the latest scientific research . . . [with] plenty of his trademark humor.” —Los Angeles Times
“Clever [and] engaging. . . . A popular-science beach book, the sort of tome from which cocktail party anecdotes can be mined by the dozen.” —The Oregonian
“Fascinating. . . . Shows how the idea of the unconscious has become respectable again.” —The Economist
“An assault against the idea that we control our decisions and our beliefs in the way that we think we do . . . . A useful addition to the growing body of work arguing convincingly against the idea of the rational human brain.” —The Daily Beast
“Mlodinow argues his case persuasively and with humor.” —The Montreal Gazette
“In a loose, easygoing style, Mlodinow combines numerous accounts of scientific studies with pop-culture references and even personal anecdotes.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Mlodinow is the perfect guy to reveal the ways unrelated elements can relate and connect.” —The Miami Herald
“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
Winner of the 2013 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award
New York Times Bestseller
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 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.
Subliminal 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.
Your preference in politicians, the amount you tip your waiter—all your judgments and perceptions—are influenced by unconscious processes. More generally, the way we experience the world--our perception, behavior, memory, and social judgment—is largely driven by the mind's subliminal processes and not by the conscious ones, as we have long believed. But though those unconscious processes are outside our awareness, over the past two decades researchers have developed remarkable new tools for probing those mental processes. The result is a new science of the unconscious and a sea change in our understanding of how the subliminal mind affects the way we live.
In Subliminal, Leonard Mlodinow uses his signature concise, accessible explanations of the most obscure scientific subjects to unravel the complexities of the unconscious. In the process he probes the many ways it influences how we perceive our relationships with family, friends, and business associates; how we misunderstand the reasons for our investment decisions; and how we misremember important events--along the way, changing our view of ourselves and the world around us.
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.