my mind on books

The new book The Probabilistic Mind: Prospects for Bayesian Cognitive Science by Nick Chater and Mike Oaksford (Oxford, 2008) [Search Inside the Book available at Amazon] appears to be unrelated to the New Scientist article on Bayesian statistics and brain functions discussed today at Mind Hacks.

From the product description for The Probabilistic Mind:

The rational analysis method, first proposed by John R. Anderson, has been enormously influential in helping us understand high-level cognitive processes.

The Probabilistic Mind is a follow-up to the influential and highly cited ‘Rational Models of Cognition’ (OUP, 1998). It brings together developments in understanding how, and how far, high-level cognitive processes can be understood in rational terms, and particularly using probabilistic Bayesian methods. It synthesizes and evaluates the progress in the past decade, taking into account developments in Bayesian statistics, statistical analysis of the cognitive ‘environment’ and a variety of theoretical and experimental lines of research. The scope of the book is broad, covering important recent work in reasoning, decision making, categorization, and memory. Including chapters from many of the leading figures in this field,
The Probabilistic Mind will be valuable for psychologists and philosophers interested in cognition.

Once again I was gifted with a book through the wonderful Early Reviewers Program at LibraryThing. This time it is Authenticity: Clearing the Junk: A Buddhist Perspective by Venerable Yifa (Lantern, 2007). Speaking unpretentiously, like a wise sister, Yifa looks at junk in many manifestations: junk food, stuff, communication, relationships, emotions and thoughts.

This slim volume does not have practical tips for dealing with clutter, nor does it advocate asceticism for all, but takes more of a typically Buddhist approach that involves changing attitudes, working from the inside out. One aspect of the Buddhist approach is to evaluate how behaviors affect the mind, seeking to promote those that are conducive to mental equanimity. Another is to look at whole systems, focusing on the interdependence of all things.

It was surprising to come across a reference to Heidegger in the midst of this Buddhist book, but I appreciated the concept. Yifa refers to “…a kind of junk conversation where we’re being what the German philosopher Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) called das Man. Das Man is the everyday and impersonal public face of who we are. It’s the type of individual who doesn’t mean what he says, and who doesn’t bother whether he’s authentic or truthful. He gets by on white lies, exaggerations, small talk, and sarcasm. In the process, the individual forgets who he is and replaces his authentic self with a kind of shallow and flexible persona that adapts to all things and believes in nothing.” p. 58. (More on ‘Das Man’ at Wikipedia)

Another nice quote from the book is an anonymous Chinese piece called “The Temperature of Speech” (p. 62):

If something is urgent, say it slowly.

If something is important, say it clearly.

If something is unimportant, say it humorously.

If something is uncertain, say it discreetly.

If something did not happen, do not mention it at all.

If you cannot do something, do not claim it for yourself.

If what you say could harm others, keep silent.

When something annoys you, don’t take it personally.

If something makes you happy, don’t make too much of it.

When talking about your own affairs, pay attention to how you talk.

When talking about someone else’s affairs, be judicious.

When your heart is broken, not everyone needs to know.

Of things that remain to be done, talk of them when they are finished.

Of things that happen in the future, don’t talk of them in the present.

If I have not satisfied you, tell me.

These principles are well exemplified in Yifa’s writing itself.

Sample content (Table of Contents, Introduction and Chapter One) available through the publisher

Yifa interview on YouTube

I saw this at the bookstore today, started reading and was already jotting things down within the first few pages, a sure sign of a good book:

Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You by Sam Gosling (Basic Books, 2008)

From the product description:

Does what’s on your desk reveal what’s on your mind? Do those pictures on your walls tell true tales about you? And is your favorite outfit about to give you away? For the last ten years psychologist Sam Gosling has been studying how people project (and protect) their inner selves. By exploring our private worlds (desks, bedrooms, even our clothes and our cars), he shows not only how we showcase our personalities in unexpected—and unplanned—ways, but also how we create personality in the first place, communicate it others, and interpret the world around us. Gosling, one of the field’s most innovative researchers, dispatches teams of scientific snoops to poke around dorm rooms and offices, to see what can be learned about people simply from looking at their stuff. What he has discovered is astonishing: when it comes to the most essential components of our personalities—from friendliness to flexibility—the things we own and the way we arrange them often say more about us than even our most intimate conversations. If you know what to look for, you can figure out how reliable a new boyfriend is by peeking into his medicine cabinet or whether an employee is committed to her job by analyzing her cubicle. Bottom line: The insights we gain can boost our understanding of ourselves and sharpen our perceptions of others. Packed with original research and fascinating stories, Snoop is a captivating guidebook to our not-so-secret lives.

Website for the book

Beyond Revenge: The Evolution of the Forgiveness Instinct by Michael McCullough (Jossey-Bass, 2008)
From the product description:

Why is revenge such a pervasive and destructive problem? How can we create a future in which revenge is less common and forgiveness is more common? Psychologist Michael McCullough argues that the key to a more forgiving, less vengeful world is to understand the evolutionary forces that gave rise to these intimately human instincts and the social forces that activate them in human minds today. Drawing on exciting breakthroughs from the social and biological sciences, McCullough dispenses surprising and practical advice for making the world a more forgiving place.

Website for the book

Noted educator Herbert Kohl writes a short, sweet memoir about his study of Chinese painting in Painting Chinese: A Lifelong Teacher Gains the Wisdom of Youth.
Nearing the age of seventy, during a time of transition in his life, Kohl decides to take up the study of Chinese painting, seemingly on a whim, and finds himself in a class at the Joseph Fine Arts School working alongside five- to seven-year-old Chinese and Chinese American children. Kohl’s background as an educator informs his observations of himself as a pupil as well as his appreciation of the traditional pedagogical method of the school, based on “creative copying” of classical paintings. The students work individually, all copying different paintings under the guidance of the teacher, so there is no sense of competition. Kohl observes:

As my lessons went on and I had a chance to observe the children over time, I could see that they were developing self-discipline, confidence, pleasure in their own achievements, and, most of all, patience with their own learning. Ironically, by abandoning competition in this gentle and encouraging environment, they were acquiring strengths and skills that would serve them well in a competitive learning environment, where self-discipline and focused work are the essence of academic success. It even occurred to me that Joseph’s way of teaching, if was widespread through informal learning experiences in the Chinese community, might partially account for the amazing success of Chinese and Chinese American students in schools. (p. 30)

Kohl’s painting lessons also prompt some forays into Chinese culture, as he explores legends of the Monkey King and the meaning of bamboo. Later he discovers “…how much my perception of nature had been transformed by painting Chinese. I looked at the ocean as a force, alive and active. Trees had become individual beings…. I let the environment take hold of me rather than just walk through it.” (p. 143)

Adjusting to old age by “growing up again” is a frequent theme, as Kohl reflects on the experience:

Painting Chinese provided me with a condensed second childhood, one I could grow through painlessly, stage by stage… to become settled into old age. Traveling from monkeys to hermit landscapes led me to understand the contradictions that drove my life…. The sensibility of the Chinese painting and poetry that moves me enhances those contradictions: water versus rock, storm versus calm, war versus tranquility, solitude versus companionship, love versus enmity. One landscape can hold all those opposites in tension, explicitly or by implication. … Painting Chinese and my brush with the Tao has taught me that these contradictions are necessary and welcome. There is no final resolution to the contradictions, to the balance between the positive and the negative and the striving toward wholeness. As Monkey King said, the holy books and all the sacred documents are and will forever remain incomplete. (p. 158)