What You'll Learn:
Though science has long told us that the brain is the most powerful organ, new evidence suggests that our minds may have reached their optimal ability. In the face of increasingly complex modern problems in education, work, and human relationships, people ought to begin “thinking outside the brain.” The Extended Mind, by acclaimed science journalist Annie Murphy Paul, posits that thinking through our bodies, environments, and communities may solve our brains’ stagnation. The scope of her research includes the voices of experts in many fields—such as economics, psychology, and biology—and reveals surprising yet ancient sources of thinking that lie beyond the confined borders of our heads.
Key Insights:
- Recent analogies of the brain as a computer or muscle share limiting assumptions.
- In financial trading, a gut feeling may help you earn more money than an unassailable mental calculation.
- Our gestures carry more complex and prophetic meanings than the words we speak.
- Places shape how and what our brains think.
- Despite our modern idolatry of originality, human culture has been built by imitation—a surprisingly difficult skill.
- The conditions for brilliance are not exclusively innate; they can be assembled outside our brains.
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