Book Catalog
Inevitable Illusions
How Mistakes of Reason Rule our Minds
By Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini
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Original Cover Price: $15.95
Our Item Code: illusions
Postage Code: book1.5
256 Pages, Trade Paperback
Cover Size: 6 x 9 inches
John Wiley & Sons
Date: 1994
ISBN: 047115962x
Country of Origin: USA
Added to Catalog: 10/8/97
WIRT: 444x4144
Availability: This item is usually in stock and available for immediate
Priority Mail shipment. Order it today (by 8pm Eastern/5pm Pacific),
and you will probably have it in 2-3 days (in USA).
Features: Table of Contents, Index, Footnotes, Drawings
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Our Review |
Opinion of the webmaster, subject to debate |
Credibility
4
High |
Research Value
4
High |
Cultural Interest
4
High |
Visual Information
NR
Not Rated |
Style
4
Stylish |
Silliness
1
Very Low |
Wow Factor
4
Surprising |
Bargain
4
High |
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Explanation of Ratings
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Through a series of examples, this book
shows us that errors of reasoning are not just aberrations,
but an intimate part of our cognitive processes.
Especially when evaluating the likelihood of future
events, people almost never behave rationally.
For example, they focus on unlikely but well-publicized
risks, like dying in an airplane crash, while ignoring the
much more probably risks that that have move control over..
This book catagorizes the various kinds of errors people
make, including what the author calls "The Seven Deadly Sins"
(Overconfidence, Magical Thinking, Predictability in Hindsight,
Anchoring, Ease of Representation, Probability Blindness and
Reconsideration under Suitable Scripts).
The field of cognitive science provides the basis for understanding
these errors, and there are many citations to psychological
literature and experiments. A useful book for understanding
your own errors and those of the people around you.
(Unfortunately, those who really need to read it
probably won't.)
-- Glenn Campbell
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Information from the Publisher |
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From the Book Cover
"Fascinating and insightful.... I cannot recall a book that has made
me think more about the nature of thinking."
ÑRichard C. Lewontin Harvard University
Everyone knows that optical illusions trick us because of the way we
see. Now scientists have discovered that cognitive illusions, a set of
biases deeply embedded in the human mind, can actually distort the way
we think.
In Inevitable illusions, distinguished cognitive researcher
Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini takes us on a provocative, challenging,
and thoroughly entertaining exploration of the games our minds play.
He opens the doors onto the newly charted realm of the cognitive
unconscious to reveal the full range of illusions, showing how they
inhibit our ability to reasonÑno matter what our educational
background or IQ. Inevitable Illusions is stimulating,
eye-opening food for thought.
MASSIMO PIATTELLI-PALMARINI, Ph.D., is a Principal Research Associate
of the Center for Cognitive Science at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology and the Director of the Department of Cognitive Science at
the Institute of San Raffaele in Milan, Italy. His books The Will
to Study and the Italian edition of Inevitable Illusions
were international bestsellers.
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