A Mind of Its Own: How Your Brain Distorts and Deceives

A Mind of Its Own: How Your Brain Distorts and Deceives
by Cordelia Fine
Icon Books, £9.99, ISBN 1840466782

For those of us who like to put consciousness to the fore, and who take pride in rationality over mere emotion or prejudice, this slim little volume provides something of a challenge. There’s no denying that it’s entertaining, and it’s written in an engaging and none too serious style, but it packs a punch all the same. In six short chapters Cordelia Fine picks apart at the mighty edifice of the rational brain and, quoting extensively from the research literature, reveals a vain, egotistical, devious, untruthful and bigoted organ. The picture of the mind that emerges has more in common with an unscrupulous populist politician than a fairminded seeker of truth. I’d find this incredibly depressing, but of course having read the book my mind is apt to put aside what it has just learned and is happier to offer me the comforting illusions of reason. Oh well, it’s not my fault, for according to the research the mind plays this sort of trick more often than not. Fine writes with a light touch: there’s a gentle humour and a peppering of homely anecdotes throughout the book. But the research she draws on is serious enough, and for those who need convincing there are plenty of notes and references to follow up.
By the end of the book one could be forgiven for thinking that we are mere dupes of the brain – that consciousness itself is an illusion and that what we think of as reasoning is usually a post-hoc rationalisation of some far deeper process. However, if that is the case then how is it that we can read a book cover to cover? How is that anyone could write a book in the first place? Intention and concentration together are evidence of some process that we can label consciousness. Even if we’re still not sure of what’s going on deep under the surface, there’s still something there.

So, despite the lying, the scheming, the clinging-on to prejudices and the other vices that our brains are prone to – and which this book does much to shed light on – we shouldn’t resign ourselves to the idea that conscious reason itself is a complete illusion.

Pan Pantziarka

A User’s Guide To The Brain

A Teaspoon and an Open Mind

A Teaspoon and an Open Mind: What Would an Alien Look Like? Is Time Travel Possible? and Other Intergalactic Conumdrums from the World of "Doctor Who"
by Michael White
Penguin Books, £8.99 (pb), ISBN 0-141-02481-X

Although the book claims to look at “intergalactic conundrums from the world of Doctor Who”, there are only brief references to the show; the author is really just cashing in on the revival. There is a glance at Tardis technology in the Epilogue but most of the sci-fi technology could equally be taken from Star Trek, which he often mentions.
This is mostly a review of the current state of technology and recent discoveries, with some speculation about the future. White does use solid science, keeping an open mind where this is the scientific thing to do. He debunks Atlantis but is open to alien life and cautiously open to telepathy, for example. The chapters are loosely themed around Dr Who ideas – time travel, aliens, teleportation, robots and so on, concluding that we do not currently have the technology to make these possible but in some cases may do in the future.
Teleportation, time travel and galaxy-hopping would take vast amounts of energy, quite apart from minor considerations like the known laws of the universe. There are the usual fears about sentient robots and extending human life indefinitely, although White does embrace the idea that imagination can lead from fiction to fact. As he says, it is the ability to develop that separates science from “mere belief systems”. He speculates about what aliens might look like, based on sound evolutionary and environmental principles. But if they do exist, would they want to visit us, given what they may have picked up from TV and radio emissions?
For any sci-fi nerd (sorry, expert), the book covers very familiar ground adding little new, and Dr Who fans will be disappointed. That said, this is an intelligent, readable introduction to ideas like wormholes, cyborgs, antimatter, temporal paradoxes and the laws of physics, that make science fiction staples possible, impossible or just very unlikely to become science fact.

Tessa Kendall

About 'The Skeptic'

The Skeptic is the UK’s only regular magazine to take a sceptical look at pseudoscience and claims of the paranormal. Founded in 1987 by Wendy Grossman, the magazine is now edited by Deborah Hyde and a team of Deputy Editors. Former Editor-in-Chief Professor Chris French from the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit, Goldsmiths, University of London, remains involved as Special Advisor and a member of the Editorial Advisory Board.

The Skeptic is a non-profit magazine published four times a year, available to buy single issues or a yearly subscription online or by post. The magazine has become an invaluable resource for journalists, teachers, psychologists, and inquisitive people of all ages who yearn to discover the truth behind the many extraordinary claims of paranormal and unusual phenomena. Note that we are not connected with the similarly named (American) Skeptic Magazine or the (Australian) The Skeptic journal.

In 2005 The Skeptic received an Independent Press Awards nomination from
The Utne Reader (read our press release).

At the request of The British Library, as of 2008, The Skeptic website is archived on the UK Web Archiving Consortium's project to "concentrate on sites of cultural, historical and political importance." More information on the Consortium can be found at their homepage: www.webarchive.org.uk

Press contacts

The contact details below are for the magazine Editors.

Email: edit[at]skeptic.org.uk this will usually get the quickest response.
Phone: 0844 589 7402 (Please note call charges to this number can be higher than standard rate. A guide to charges can be found here. If unsure, please check current costs before telephoning.)
Fax: +44 (0)20 7919 7873

Editorial enquiries and postal submissions to
The Skeptic Magazine,
The Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit,
Department of Psychology,
Goldsmiths College,
New Cross, London SE14 6NW,
United Kingdom.

Subscriptions/sample issues
Mike Hutchinson,
10 Crescent View,
Loughton,
Essex, IG10 4PZ,
United Kingdom.