Review
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Andrew Solomon, author of Far From the Tree: Parents, Children
and the Search for Identity
“This thoughtful, provocative book provides a needed
counterbalance to the arrogant neuromythology that purports to
explain all of human behavior through brain imaging. It makes a
strong moral argument that we are, ultimately, creatures of
choice who can exercise will; it grapples boldly with a science
that has sometimes threatened our understanding of what it is to
be human.”
Charles Murray, author of Coming Apart
“Science develops new tools that have promise for illuminating
age-old questions, and those new tools are then misused or
oversold until expectations are finally reconciled with reality.
Sally Satel and Scott Lilienfield tell the story of
neuroscience's real and illusory contribution to goals that range
from treating addiction and detecting lies to ping the neural
underpinnings of morality. It is a daunting topic, but
Brainwashed somehow manages to blend the authors' mastery of
their subject with compulsive readability.”
Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing
“A smart and sometimes devastating critique of ‘neurobollocks'…
this book is a brisk read, but a good one — and, I would argue,
an important one.”
Nature
“Satel and Lilienfeld provide an engaging overview of the
technical and conceptual factors that complicate the
interpretation of brain scans obtained by functional magnetic
resonance imaging and other techniques.... Brainwashed offers
much to bolster popular understanding of what brain imaging can
and cannot achieve.”
Huffington Post
"[An] important new book.... Brainwashed is not an
anti-neuroscience book by any means. Indeed, the authors
celebrate the new ins into human thought and behavior that
brain studies have yielded. But the book does take a hard stand
against the prevailing neurocentrism, and s to restore some
balance to our understanding of human fallibility, including drug
and alcohol addiction."
BBC Focus
"In a witty but no-hold-barred book, the authors skewer the
ridiculous cls of those who tell us that brain imaging can
unlock the secrets of the mind.... Brainwashed explains why we
must be skeptical and accept that, if anything, brain research
has revealed just how much further we have to go."
Gary Marcus, Newyorker.com
"The book does a terrific job of explaining where and how savvy
readers should be skeptical."
Discover
"Well-written and remarkably balanced…. Should you buy it?... For
new readers, or as a gift, it would be fantastic."
Metapsychology
“Offers an availing expose on the recklessly radical conclusions
of Naïve Neuroscience and what must be addressed to maintain a
comprehensive, sensible and constrained Modern Neuroscience.”
Reason
"A skeptical but fair-minded review of the field that carefully
distinguishes between wild hopes and actual accomplishments."
Commentary
“[A] lucid new book”
The Scientist
“Brainwashed is a reasoned, humane addition to the growing
‘neuroskeptic' bookshelf.”
Booklist, Starred Review
"[A] fascinating book."
Library Journal
“An accessible entry point to important and timely neuroethical
discussions. Above all, readers will learn why they should turn a
critical eye to reports that begin, ‘Brain scans show…'”
Kirkus Reviews
“A valuable contribution to the neuroscience bookshelf.”
Wall Street Journal
“In their concise and well-researched book, [Satel and
Lilienfeld] offer a reasonable and eloquent critique of this
fashionable delusion, chiding the premature or unnecessary
application of brain science to commerce, psychiatry, the law and
ethics.... In a book that uses 'mindless' accusatively in the
subtitle, you might expect an excitable series of attacks on
purveyors of what's variously called neurohype, neurohubris and
neurobollocks. But more often than not Dr. Satel and Mr.
Lilienfeld stay fair and levelheaded. Good thing, because this is
a topic that requires circumspection on all sides.”
New York Times
“Dr. Satel and Dr. Lilienfeld offer a methodical critique of this
oversimplified neuro-nonsense, convincingly arguing that in many
ways the M.R.I.'s of today are simply the phrenology heads of
yesteryear, laughably primitive attempts to wrangle human
character and behavior into tractable form.”
Paul Bloom, Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science at Yale
and author of How Pleasure Works
“In this smart, provocative and very accessible book, Satel and
Lilienfeld are not out to bury neuroscience; they are here to
save it—to rescue it from those who have wildly exaggerated its
practical and theoretical benefits. Some of this book is very
funny, as when they review the dubious history of neuromarketing
and neuropolitics, and some of it is dead serious, as in their
discussion of how the abuse of neuroscience distorts criminal law
and the of addicts. Brainwashed is essential reading
for anyone who wants to understand the use and abuse of one of
the most important scientific developments of our time.”
Hal Pashler, Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Cognitive
Science, University of California, San Diego
“Brainwashed provides an engaging and wonderfully lucid tour of
the many areas in which the progress and applications of
neuroscience are currently being overstated and oversold. Some of
the hyping of neuroscience appears fairly harmless, but more than
a little of it carries potential for real damage—especially when
it promotes erroneous ideas about addiction and criminal
behavior. The book combines clearheaded analysis with telling
examples and anecdotes, making it a pleasure to read.”
Steven Pinker, Harvard College Professor of Psychology, and
author of How the Mind Works and The Stuff of Thought
“Neuroscience is an exhilarating frontier of knowledge, but many
of its champions have gotten carried away. This book shows how
attempts to explain the human condition by pointing to crude
blotches of brain activity may be superficially appealing but are
ultimately unsatisfying. Sally Satel and Scott Lilienfeld are not
dualists, romantics, mystics, or luddites. Their case for
understanding the mind at multiple levels of analysis will
resonate with thoughtful psychologists and biologists, and they
make that case lucidly, expertly, and entertainingly. Anyone who
is interested in the brain—and who isn't?—will be enlightened by
this lively yet judicious critique.”
PsycCRITIQUES
“In this volume, these two prolific authors combine their talents
to provocatively call for caution concerning many of the promises
associated with neuroscience.... A very readable, even
entertaining, commentary on how neuroscience is beginning to
change the world.... A welcome reminder of the never-ending need
for y skepticism as we encounter the various creative
endeavors that so often accompany emerging scientific
developments.”
The National Review
“[An] incisive and clearly written book.... [I]f you want to know
where and why the neuroscientific used-car salesmen are wrong, if
you want to arm yourself against their preous overselling,
read this book.”
David Brooks, New York Times
"[A] compelling and highly readable book."
Slate
“A well-informed attack on the extravagances of “neurocentrist”
thought.”
The New Scientist
“The intrepid outsider needs expert guidance through this rocky
terrain – and there's no better place to start than Brainwashed
by Sally Satel and Scott O. Lilienfeld. Satel, a practising
psychiatrist, and Lilienfeld, a clinical psychologist, are
terrific sherpas. They are clear-ed, considered and
forgiving of the novice's ignorance”
Jeffrey Rosen, Professor of Law, George Washington University and
Legal Affairs Editor, The New Republic
“Brainwashed challenges the much-hyped cl that neuroscience
will transform everything from marketing to the legal system to
our ideas of blameworthiness and free will. Satel and Lilienfeld
bring much needed skeptical intelligence to this field, giving
neuroscience its due while recognizing its limitations. This is
an invaluable contribution to one of our most contested debates
about the ability of science to transform society.”
Peter D. Kramer, author of Against Depression
“An authoritative, fascinating argument for the centrality of
mind in what, doubtless prematurely, has been called the era of
the brain.”
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About the Author
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Sally Satel is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise
Institute for Public Policy Research, a lecturer at Yale
University School of Medicine, and a practicing psychiatrist. The
author of PC, M.D., she holds an MD from Brown University. Satel
lives in Washington, DC.
Scott O. Lilienfeld is a clinical psychologist and professor of
psychology at Emory University. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
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