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Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind
by Gary Marcus
from Houghton Mifflin Co
Customer Reviews:
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Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0 
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The Mind and You
The entire self help book industry is kind of applied psychology. The author takes an undergraduate degree in pysch, reads up on the current research, applies it to a business context or a life style context and voila- "Applied Psychology for Dummies- or The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, or how to think yourself thin or whatever. It's a formula, and it moves units, as they say in the music biz, so you can forgive NYU professor Gary Marcus if he's trying to get a piece of that sweet, sweet... more info
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I enjoyed the Unabridged CD version 
Ideally, I'd have given this a 4.5 star rating, as a number of the studies sited in Kluge I'd heard of before [but in fairness, I read or listen to lots of psyche-science books]. Still, very worthwhile, for giving a convincing portrayal of how our... [appropriately, I can't think of the right word] often defective/unsatisfying brains are simply the way things are. It's not just me/us! It's well, the way evolution worked out.
Definitely recommended.
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Missing some relevant factors 
It was with great interest that I received a review copy of "Kluge", because I myself am halfway through writing an Environmental Psychology book about modern human society.
I was dismayed to find that the author gives 13 pieces of advice at the end of book, of how human beings can avoid our instinctual reactions and be more rational, and then doesn't follow them. He doesn't "consider alternate hypotheses" (as I will elaborate) and he doesn't "distance himself".
Many EP authors, such as Rubin,... more info
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Wonderful start - then kluge sets in
The author begins with the proposition that a lot of things in nature - including systems in living organisms, even mankind - seems as if they have been cobbled together in haphazard fashion. The idea of intelligent design will not survive a close reading of this book. The great Portuguese king, Alfonso the Wise, once confided to his companions (perhaps while swatting a mosquito) that, if he had been present at the creation, he might have offered a few useful suggestions to the creator.
Marcus is a... more info
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