my mind on books

$2.99 kindle ebook: Are You Sure? The Unconscious Origins of Certainty (… by Ginger Campbell amazon.com/gp/product/B00… via @amazon

— Debbie A Foster (@mymindonbooks) June 14, 2012

(…prices may vary by region and are subject to change, so be sure to check before purchasing.)

Wait: The Art and Science of Delay by Frank Partnoy (PublicAffairs)

(kindle ed.), (amazon.co.uk)

Book description from the publisher:

What do these scenarios have in common: a professional tennis player returning a serve, a woman evaluating a first date across the table, a naval officer assessing a threat to his ship, and a comedian about to reveal a punch line?

In this counterintuitive and insightful work, author Frank Partnoy weaves together findings from hundreds of scientific studies and interviews with wide-ranging experts to craft a picture of effective decision-making that runs counter to our brutally fast-paced world. Even as technology exerts new pressures to speed up our lives, it turns out that the choices we make––unconsciously and consciously, in time frames varying from milliseconds to years––benefit profoundly from delay. As this winning and provocative book reveals, taking control of time and slowing down our responses yields better results in almost every arena of life … even when time seems to be of the essence.

The procrastinator in all of us will delight in Partnoy’s accounts of celebrity “delay specialists,” from Warren Buffett to Chris Evert to Steve Kroft, underscoring the myriad ways in which delaying our reactions to everyday choices––large and small––can improve the quality of our lives.

Google Books preview:

See also: Author’s website

The Music between Us: Is Music a Universal Language? by Kathleen Marie Higgins (University of Chicago Press, 2012)

(kindle ed.), (amazon.co.uk)

Book description from the publisher:

From our first social bonding as infants to the funeral rites that mark our passing, music plays an important role in our lives, bringing us closer to one another. In The Music between Us, philosopher Kathleen Marie Higgins investigates this role, examining the features of human perception that enable music’s uncanny ability to provoke, despite its myriad forms across continents and throughout centuries, the sense of a shared human experience.

Drawing on disciplines such as philosophy, psychology, musicology, linguistics, and anthropology, Higgins’s richly researched study showcases the ways music is used in rituals, education, work, healing, and as a source of security and—perhaps most importantly—joy. By participating so integrally in such meaningful facets of society, Higgins argues, music situates itself as one of the most fundamental bridges between people, a truly cross-cultural form of communication that can create solidarity across political divides. Moving beyond the well-worn takes on music’s universality, The Music between Us provides a new understanding of what it means to be musical and, in turn, human.

Google Books preview:

kindle ebook currently $1.99: Brains: How They Seem to Work (FT Press Science) by Dale Purves amazon.com/gp/product/B00… via @amazon

— Debbie A Foster (@mymindonbooks) May 21, 2012

(Price is subject to change, so be sure to check before buying.)

free kindle ebook: A Professional’s Guide to Decision Science and Problem Solving amazon.com/gp/product/B00… via @amazon

— Debbie A Foster (@mymindonbooks) May 20, 2012

(This was free when I posted, but price is subject to change so always be sure to check.)