Book cover of The Believing Brain

Book description

In this work synthesizing thirty years of research, psychologist, historian of science, and the world's best-known skeptic Michael Shermer upends the traditional thinking about how humans form beliefs about the world. Simply put, beliefs come first and explanations for beliefs follow. The brain, Shermer argues, is a belief engine. From…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Believing Brain as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This book really challenges what you think you know, and is based on solid science and research, not on what you thought you knew or what you've been told throughout your life.
The writing style gets a bit bogged down, but I imagine it's difficult to cover this type of subject matter in an entirely original and free-flowing fashion.

If you love The Believing Brain...

Book cover of December on 5C4

December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

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The polyandrous Yan family in China's rural Shaanxi Province takes in two carpenter brothers. When one brother is convicted of murder after killing their neighbor in a dispute, a constable threatens to expose the family's rumored polyandry and extorts…

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