Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast: The Evolutionary Origins of Belief

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Synopsis
[From the book jacket] Why do 70 percent of Americans believe in angels, while others are convinced that they've been abducted by aliens? Why does every society around the world have a religious tradition of some sort? What makes people believe in improbable things when all the evidence points to the contrary? In Through the Looking Glass, the White Queen tells Alice that to believe in a wildly far-fetched fact, she simply needs to "draw a long breath and shut [her] eyes." Alice finds this advice ridiculous. But don't almost all of us, at some time or another, engage in magical thinking? Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill canceled all appointments on Friday the 13th. Niels Bohr tacked a horseshoe over his desk-just to add some luck to his quantum universe. In Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast, evolutionary biologist Lewis Wolpert delves into the important and timely debate over the nature of belief, looking at belief's psychological basis to discover just what evolutionary purpose it could serve. Are there advantages to imaginary friends and fantasy worlds, superstitions and religions? Are we born with an evolutionary defense mechanism to believe in things that make us feel better about the world? Wolpert leads the reader through all that science can tell us about the beliefs of which we are so instinctually sure. He deftly explores these questions and the different types of belief - those of children, of animals, of the religious, and of those suffering from psychiatric disorders - and he asks whether it is possible to live without belief, or whether it is a necessary component of a functioning society.
Copyright:
2006

Book Details

Book Quality:
Excellent
Book Size:
243 Pages
ISBN-13:
9780393064490
Publisher:
N/A
Date of Addition:
Copyrighted By:
Lewis Wolpert
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Has Image Descriptions:
No
Categories:
Nonfiction, Science, Religion and Spirituality, Psychology, Philosophy
Submitted By:
Deborah Murray
Proofread By:
Chris Feist
Usage Restrictions:
This is a copyrighted book.

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