Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-10 of 30
 Fascinating insights October 6, 2009
S. L Ceravolo (Seattle, WA United States)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I bought this book because the premise sounded interesting, and because I love scientific explanations for thoughts, behaviors, and beliefs. It did not disappoint. I liked how the author did not oversimplify or condescend to the non-technical reader (he is a neurosurgeon). The examples he used to illustrate concepts were well-chosen and memorable. Those who enjoy the writings of Malcolm Gladwell, but prefer a more technical and in-depth discussion, should read this book!
Believing You Are Wrong Even When You're Not August 25, 2009
Larry Underwood (Scottsdale, AZ)
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
Robert Burton's study into the fascinating & perplexing nature of the brain gives empirical evidence that what we believe isn't really based on logic; it's based on chemical reactions in the brain which are really quite unreliable, as far as accuracy goes. Does that make sense?
Of course not. In fact, if you read this book very carefully, you'll realize that even when you're right, you might not believe it. But that's a safer way to go; getting fooled into thinking you're right when you're dead wrong, could prove fatal, from a career standpoint; especially when the boss decides the matter of right or wrong; right or wrong.
You may not believe me, but try to understand that I'm usually right; I think.
 On Being Certain August 22, 2009
Robert L. Schmitz (Oakdale, MN USA)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Excellent. Confirms what we know. Religions exist in our mind and not in reality. Beware of what you think you know.
You can't agree with my review unless you already agree with my review July 24, 2009
Don McGowan
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
There are many books on topics that seem similar to this one - Blink being the best-known. The difference with Burton is that he's a medical doctor and he approaches things like a medical doctor would. He provides clinical reviews and not just anecdotes. The bigger point he's making, that there is probably a biological underpinning to the feeling that you know something to be true that runs parallel to the part of the brain that underlies the actual knowledge of the fact, would explain a lot of the behavior patterns we see in people. To Burton you can try to convince people they are wrong but that doesn't make them change their minds because you haven't caused them to change the part of the brain that's wired to think the other beliefs are true, and that part of the brain is difficult to change.
Burton doesn't use this example but I will: think of Saul on the road to Damascus. Why did he change his position as to the truth of the gospels? Not because he learned new facts, but because he found he no longer believed the old conclusions from the old facts to be true, and he drew new conclusions from the old facts. Most people don't change their minds just by learning new facts, they change their minds by realizing that the facts they know (whether combined with new ones or not) no longer feel true. Burton provides a compelling explanation for this phenomenon
So I guess what I'm saying is "I like this book because what it says feels like it's true." But saying that demonstrates the whole point of the book...
Good writing, interesting content May 28, 2009
Marcy L. Thompson (Sammamish, WA USA)
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
When I judge a non-fiction book, I look for three things:
Is it well-written? Yes, this is a very fluently written book.
Is the content interesting and well-supported? Yes, there are interesting ideas and (perhaps more importantly) the bringing together of ideas I'd read about elsewhere and examining the light and shadows they shed on one another.
And finally, does the book change the way I view the world in some substantial way? In this case, I'll have to say, yes, sort of. In other words, the author has put into more concise terms ideas and notions I'd picked up other places (Steven Pinker, among others), and drawn a couple conclusions I hadn't reached, but with which I basically agree.
Based on the answers to these three questions, I'd like to give this book 4 1/2 stars because the change to my world view was more a matter of bringing some stuff into focus than a matter of opening a new window. However, it's closer to 5 stars than 4, so I'm going with 5.
I found it was very important to read the early part of the book carefully, even though it was largely setting up the arguments of the second half. In that part of the book, we meet people who experience a disconnect between what they "know to be true" and what logic and empirical observation tells them. For instance, the woman who can see that her heart is beating yet believes she is dead. And the man who knows and understands and accepts all the evidence of evolution, but chooses to be a creationist because he believes that to be true. And the man who agrees that the evidence is that the furniture in his room is the same as it ever was, but lacks the ability to know it is the same, and so believes it must be different. Some of these examples go by very quickly, and then are referred to later.
The second half of the book is a solid analysis of the factual content laid out in the first half, and provides some startling insights into what it means to be certain of something (and also, what it does not mean). I suspect that this book will gradually change how I experience certainty in my own life, but I also suspect that will take some time. It's entirely possible that I will think this is a fully 5-star book a year from now, or that I will wish I had given it only 4 stars. All I know is that I am not certain how that will play out.
In the meantime, it's a good book with lots of food for thought in it. Recommended as a fairly light non-fiction read.
Showing reviews 6-10 of 30
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