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The 7 Laws Of Magical Thinking: How Irrational Beliefs Keep Us Happy, Healthy, And Sane (2012)

by Matthew Hutson(Favorite Author)

3.56 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1594630879 (ISBN13: 9781594630873)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Hudson Street Press

review 1: I wasn't sure what to expect with this one, I predicted it would be a self-help like book that would have me frustrated for selecting it. The title inclusion of irrational beliefs had me intrigued. I am glad that I gave it a try. This is a book about the science of "magical thinking". You know things of religion, superstition, ritual and taboo. Why is a bat that Babe Ruth held to hit a home run, worth so much more than an identical bat made in the same period owned by an unknown 12 year old? Huston uses cognitive science to show that magical thinking is hardwired into our brains. In fact, it part of our evolutionary success. Skeptics who are actually open to science may find interest in this book. Huston also has a wicked sense of humor making for an easy ... moreread.
review 2: First of, I don't get the title, for it kind of sounds self-helpish (something the book is not) and I never recall him saying anything about 7 laws, well, other than when he was talking about lucky numbers and said why he chose 7 instead of 6 or 8. I did enjoy the book for the most part, even though Hutson is an atheist, and thus anything that doesn't fit within his hard-line materialistic worldview is "magical thinking". Unlike those militant atheist Dawkins, Hitchen and Harris, Hutson (like William James) feels many of the delusions are benign and since some of them make us happy, healthy and sane, they aren't all that bad. The problem of course is to experience the magic, it helps if one truly believes the illusions, and yet what is funny is the main point of the book is to show people's belief in God, prayer and many other things are delusional and then in the next breath point out these beliefs make you feel happy, healthy and sane. But wait, Mr. Hutson you're trying to break the spell, only to say a moment later "can you feel the magic tonight?" "Well, no no sir, we can't feel it now, you just broke the spell! thank you Mr Hutson... now, like you we'll have to face the fact that the universe is meaningless and were here because of a cosmic accident and well soon we will no longer exist" :)I personally think Huston's devotion to materialism though is rather a nice example of magical thinking. He believes nothing produced everything, that non-life produced life, that randomness produced fine tuning, that chaos produced information, that non-consciousness produced consciousness (of course consciousness is only an illusion), that non-reason produced reason, and that his brain that didn't evolve for the purpose of arriving at ultimate truth claims, managed to to confidently do so! But I suppose with his aversion to God, this magical thinking helps keep him happy, healthy and sane, and yet, he has been pretty depressed most of his life... so... maybe not.I did like how Hutson pointed out an example of when Richard Dawkins succumbed to a superstition, this made me smile. I have noticed that though I am a Christian and thus according to atheist, I must hold a long list of superstitions, yet still am non-superstitious with things like good-luck charms, jinks', the stars, lucky numbers and the long list of other things mentioned in this book. I do joke about Murphy's law though and I like to pretend I believe in it. Now what pissed me off was when Hutson decided to share the studies that "prove" freewill is an illusion. He mentions how Researchers take subjects and tell them to lift a finger at a certain signal. Then the scientist can show that the finger rises a microsecond before the subject was consciously aware of the signal. Showing there is no such thing as free will. The subjects only thought they consciously raised their finger, when in fact their brain did it before they were conscious of it.Now, I've heard this study again and again by science writers, and it just upsets me, for they don't think critically about it at all. They act as if this one replicated study conclusively shows free-will is mere superstition. But yeah, think about the study for a moment. For one, we have people who agreed to follow the experimenter's instructions and they freely willed beforehand to lift the finger at the cue. Then the brain did the work for them even before they were conscious of the signal. But it would be different if a subject was in a bad mood and decided beforehand to be a jerk and not lift the finger, or decided beforehand to mix it up, sometimes lifting the finger and sometimes not. Its not like the signal magically MADE the finger rise up, or the researchers priming the subject beforehand, magically MADE him do it. It was the consent of the subject to obey the instructions that than resulted in unconscious action!Gee... Scientific determinism MAKES me angry, maybe that's it's proof, it pushes the buttons in my brain and AARRRRGGGGGG, I get all riled up. I supposed I was pre-determined to hate determinism and think those who subscribe to it are utterly deluded and put way to much faith in a couple of scientific studies, especially this early in the game.I swear, when their materialism conflicts with the reality of mind, consciousness and free-will, instead of questioning their presuppositions, they decide to declare these realities to be illusions, so they can maintain that their delusional materialism is ultimate Truth. Plaa less

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