Elastic : flexible thinking in a constantly changing world
Mlodinow, Leonard
Elastic : flexible thinking in a constantly changing world - New Delhi Allen Lane Publishing 2018 - ix,252p.
Contents
Introduction 3
The Demands of Change
Rising Above the Nematode
Onward
Part I Confronting change
1 The Joy of Change 15
The Peril and the Promise
The Myth of Change Aversion
Our Exploratory Drive
Personal R&D and the Neophilia Scale
Part II How we think 31
2 What Is Thought?
Peeking Inside the Skull
What Qualifies as Thought
Becoming Mindful
The Laws of Thought
The Non-Algorithmic Elastic Brain
3 Why We Think 48
Desire and Obsession
When Thought Goes Unrewarded
Choice Overload
How Good Feelings Happen
The Rewards of Art
Attention Deficit, Elasticity Surplus
The Pleasure of Finding
Things Out
4 The World Inside Your Brain 72
How Brains Represent the World
How Brains Create Meaning
The Bottom-up Brilliance of Ants
Your Brain's Hierarchy
An Intellectual Adventure
Part Ill Where new ideas come from
5 The Power of Your Point of View 91
A Paradigm Shift in Popcorn
The Structure of Personal Revolutions
Reimagining Our Frames of Thought
The Dog-and-Bone Problem
How Mathematicians Think
The Influence of Culture
6 Thinking When You're Not Thinking 108
Nature's Plan B
The Dark Energy of the Brain
The Symphonies in Idle Minds
Smarts by Association
The Importance of Being Aimless
7 The Origin of Insight 128
When the Unimaginable Becomes the Self-Evident
Splitting the Brain
The Connection Between Language and Problem-Solving
The Trial of the Hemispheres
The Lessons of CRAP
Deconstructing the Insight
Process
Zen and the Art of Ideas
Part IV Liberating your brain
8 How Thought Freezes Over 153
Building Lives and Candleholders
The Momentum of Thought
When Thought Freezes Over
Destructive Doctrine
Handicapping the Expert Brain
The Benefits of Discord
9 Mental Blocks and Idea Filters 172
When Believing Means Not Seeing
Thinking Outside the Box
Our Idea-Filtering System
Long Live the Sophomoric
10 The Good, the Mad, and the Odd 188
It's a Mad, Mad World
Measuring Doses of Madness
Elastic Personalities, from the Arts to Science
The Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Inside
11 Liberation 200
Let's Go Get Stoned
In Wine There Is Truth; Also in Vodka
The Silver Lining of Fatigue
Don't Worry, Be Happy
Where There's a Will
Survival of the Elastic
Acknowledgments 223
Notes 225
Index 241
9780241335192
116 / MLO
Elastic : flexible thinking in a constantly changing world - New Delhi Allen Lane Publishing 2018 - ix,252p.
Contents
Introduction 3
The Demands of Change
Rising Above the Nematode
Onward
Part I Confronting change
1 The Joy of Change 15
The Peril and the Promise
The Myth of Change Aversion
Our Exploratory Drive
Personal R&D and the Neophilia Scale
Part II How we think 31
2 What Is Thought?
Peeking Inside the Skull
What Qualifies as Thought
Becoming Mindful
The Laws of Thought
The Non-Algorithmic Elastic Brain
3 Why We Think 48
Desire and Obsession
When Thought Goes Unrewarded
Choice Overload
How Good Feelings Happen
The Rewards of Art
Attention Deficit, Elasticity Surplus
The Pleasure of Finding
Things Out
4 The World Inside Your Brain 72
How Brains Represent the World
How Brains Create Meaning
The Bottom-up Brilliance of Ants
Your Brain's Hierarchy
An Intellectual Adventure
Part Ill Where new ideas come from
5 The Power of Your Point of View 91
A Paradigm Shift in Popcorn
The Structure of Personal Revolutions
Reimagining Our Frames of Thought
The Dog-and-Bone Problem
How Mathematicians Think
The Influence of Culture
6 Thinking When You're Not Thinking 108
Nature's Plan B
The Dark Energy of the Brain
The Symphonies in Idle Minds
Smarts by Association
The Importance of Being Aimless
7 The Origin of Insight 128
When the Unimaginable Becomes the Self-Evident
Splitting the Brain
The Connection Between Language and Problem-Solving
The Trial of the Hemispheres
The Lessons of CRAP
Deconstructing the Insight
Process
Zen and the Art of Ideas
Part IV Liberating your brain
8 How Thought Freezes Over 153
Building Lives and Candleholders
The Momentum of Thought
When Thought Freezes Over
Destructive Doctrine
Handicapping the Expert Brain
The Benefits of Discord
9 Mental Blocks and Idea Filters 172
When Believing Means Not Seeing
Thinking Outside the Box
Our Idea-Filtering System
Long Live the Sophomoric
10 The Good, the Mad, and the Odd 188
It's a Mad, Mad World
Measuring Doses of Madness
Elastic Personalities, from the Arts to Science
The Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Inside
11 Liberation 200
Let's Go Get Stoned
In Wine There Is Truth; Also in Vodka
The Silver Lining of Fatigue
Don't Worry, Be Happy
Where There's a Will
Survival of the Elastic
Acknowledgments 223
Notes 225
Index 241
9780241335192
116 / MLO