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Mind Within the Brain: How We Make Decisions and How Those Decisions Go Wrong
In The Mind within the Brain, David Redish brings together cutting edge research in psychology, robotics, economics, neuroscience, and the new fields of neuroeconomics and computational psychiatry, to offer a unified theory of human decision-making. Most importantly, Redish shows how vulnerabilities, or "failure-modes," in the decision-making system can lead to serious dysfunctions, such as irrational behavior, addictions, problem gambling, and PTSD. Told with verve and humor in an easily readable style, Redish makes these difficult concepts understandable. Ranging widely from the surprising roles of emotion, habit, and narrative in decision-making, to the larger philosophical questions of how mind and brain are related, what makes us human, the nature of morality, free will, and the conundrum of robotics and consciousness, The Mind within the Brain offers fresh insight into one of the most complex aspects of human behavior.
392 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 2013
36 people are currently reading
585 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 14, 2014
This book took me a few months to grasp all of the wonderful neuroscience but I just finished! It took me on a great journey and answered a lot of questions about our decision making from an instinctive point of view and how we can make better decisions by slowing down our consciousness. A quote I like is "Conscious decision to act occurs when we recognize the decision to act." There are many other great facts in this book and its organized in such a way that anyone can understand it. It continuously reiterates previous chapters but in an assuring way, not an annoying way. If interesting in neuroscience and our cognitive process (and a lot of movie references) this book is for you.
August 8, 2020
“The decisions you make arise from multiple interacting decision making systems.”
Making good decisions is hard work if you're doing it right. There is so much to consider, information to collect and evaluate, possibilities to imagine, variables to manage and actions to take. All of this is usually pressured by deadlines and widows of opportunity and all you really want is all this hard work over with so you can sit down for 5 minutes, collect your breath and watch something, anything on Netflix.
Why is it all so hard? Well, maybe it doesn’t have to be. Maybe all it takes is a little more understanding about how we decide, what makes it difficult, where it can go wrong and life would be a little easier. And who doesn’t need a bit of that?
“Each system has advantages and disadvantages - if you can steer from one system to another at the right time, you could improve your decision making.”
Professor and author A. David Redish is here to help. In his book, The Mind Within the Brain - How We Make Decisions and How Those Decisions Go Wrong, Redish has compiled research ranging from the fields of psychology, neuroeconomics, computational psychiatry, and others in an attempt at a “unified theory of human decision making.”
Audacious as that might seem, The Mind Within the Brian, packs some real value into its 300 plus pages. Shining a light on the complexities of decision making, Redish lays out his theory in four distinct parts. The first covers Decisions and the Brain. Here we learn about value, risk, reward and their implications in decision making. The second part of the book introduces us to the four distinct decision-making systems we have, how they work, where they are vulnerable and how we might better leverage their skills. Part three examines the mind, imagination, addiction and disorder. Last, Redish provides his insights on the human condition, morality, and the conundrum of our ever increasing association with tech and where that might lead.
“Our understanding of how we make decisions has enormous implications for how we understand ourselves, interact with others and see the world.”
The brain is complicated, but understanding it doesn’t have to be. The Mind Within the Brain does an admirable job of making the complex understandable. Told with both purpose and precision, this book is both a great introduction to the art of decision making and part of furthering your understanding of the science of the mind. Though it won’t be able to help you make excellent decisions, it will make you aware of why, when and where decisions can go wrong and that is not only information worth having, but information worth using. The decision is yours.
Overall Score 3.7 / 5
In a Sentence: If you want to get your decisions right, you need to know how they can go wrong
Making good decisions is hard work if you're doing it right. There is so much to consider, information to collect and evaluate, possibilities to imagine, variables to manage and actions to take. All of this is usually pressured by deadlines and widows of opportunity and all you really want is all this hard work over with so you can sit down for 5 minutes, collect your breath and watch something, anything on Netflix.
Why is it all so hard? Well, maybe it doesn’t have to be. Maybe all it takes is a little more understanding about how we decide, what makes it difficult, where it can go wrong and life would be a little easier. And who doesn’t need a bit of that?
“Each system has advantages and disadvantages - if you can steer from one system to another at the right time, you could improve your decision making.”
Professor and author A. David Redish is here to help. In his book, The Mind Within the Brain - How We Make Decisions and How Those Decisions Go Wrong, Redish has compiled research ranging from the fields of psychology, neuroeconomics, computational psychiatry, and others in an attempt at a “unified theory of human decision making.”
Audacious as that might seem, The Mind Within the Brian, packs some real value into its 300 plus pages. Shining a light on the complexities of decision making, Redish lays out his theory in four distinct parts. The first covers Decisions and the Brain. Here we learn about value, risk, reward and their implications in decision making. The second part of the book introduces us to the four distinct decision-making systems we have, how they work, where they are vulnerable and how we might better leverage their skills. Part three examines the mind, imagination, addiction and disorder. Last, Redish provides his insights on the human condition, morality, and the conundrum of our ever increasing association with tech and where that might lead.
“Our understanding of how we make decisions has enormous implications for how we understand ourselves, interact with others and see the world.”
The brain is complicated, but understanding it doesn’t have to be. The Mind Within the Brain does an admirable job of making the complex understandable. Told with both purpose and precision, this book is both a great introduction to the art of decision making and part of furthering your understanding of the science of the mind. Though it won’t be able to help you make excellent decisions, it will make you aware of why, when and where decisions can go wrong and that is not only information worth having, but information worth using. The decision is yours.
Overall Score 3.7 / 5
In a Sentence: If you want to get your decisions right, you need to know how they can go wrong
March 12, 2017
I had to read this for my fourth year university seminar on the cognitive neuroscience of decision making. I was a little apprehensive at first that our main text would be a non-academic work, but I found that it was an extremely informative book, with lots of well-articulated scientific information that would be accessible to the layperson while challenging enough for those better versed in the field. Redish maintains a very professional tone, but I appreciated the interesting footnotes and pop culture references that he peppered throughout the text, as it made the readings much less dry. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in psychology or neuroscience. The only gripe I really had was that the font was excruciatingly small, but that doesn't really speak to the quality of the work, anyways.
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June 29, 2023my scientific grandpa
March 22, 2016
Great discussion by leading researcher
This book is s clear and concise discussion of what we currently know about brain processes involved in decision making. The text is clearly written and not too technical.
This book is s clear and concise discussion of what we currently know about brain processes involved in decision making. The text is clearly written and not too technical.
Read
November 13, 2016A little complex but really interesting, did take time to read it.
December 4, 2022
Cool book but hated the class I read it for *cough* Gruber *cough*
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews