Your Brain Is Playing Tricks On You: How the Brain Shapes Opinions and Perceptions

Well and constructive written book food for thought

We tend to believe that we perceive the world precisely as it is. But in fact our perception is imperfect, a model created in our brains using our limited senses as input. And that model by necessity sees patterns, takes shortcuts and makes assumptions that can mislead and fool us.In Your Brain is Playing Tricks on You, Albert Moukheiber gives us a round up of some of these cognitive biases, explaining how they work and why they might have evolved. He illustrates his points with personal anecdotes, cutting edge research and classic experiments.Each chapter starts with a relevant epigraph and my favourite of these heads the final chapter:"You know what thinking is? It's just a fancy word for changing your mind - Doctor Who".I've read a number of popular science books that overlap the subjects covered here. What makes this book very worthwhile reading and owning is that it gives a concise description of a wide range of the latest scientific discoveries on behaviour and cognition in a relatively slim volume. So if you have already read around the subject, it's a great refresher and if you are new to neuroscience, it's a fantastic introduction.