Some books grab our attention

Every day I write for this blog.  We also read a spiritual passage, meditate and write about our thoughts.  We walk or run and lift weights.  We have been recording Cheers, Wings and NCIS.  We eat and run errands.  That doesn't leave a whole lot of time to read.  Magazines come regularly and I page through every one.  Once in a while, I do wind up reading an article but usually, I page through.  That still takes up time.

Lynn likes to work a jigsaw puzzle or knit while I read to her aloud.  We started "The Checklist Manifesto" by Atul Gawande, surgeon and assistant professor of medicine.  We started "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie" by Alan Bradley.  But, we put those on hold to read "The Hidden Brain" by Shankar Vedantam.  I have been looking for something on the unconscious mind and this is pretty good.  Vedantam is a science reporter for the Washington Post and of course, he writes well.  He establishes that there are many parts of us that are clearly governed by intelligence but are not conscious, such as our hormone system and our heart rate and blood pressure.  There are parts of our minds that function but are not conscious, not open to our awareness.

The whole business of thought production interests me.  I am thinking of Uncle Harold since I just unexpectedly saw a man who reminds me of him.  Then, I realize that my nephew is now old enough to graduate from college.  Oh, and I remember hearing that the nephew has a girl friend whose father is a bigwig in science.  Memories, associations, word recall, ideas come unbidden much of the time.  What prompts them?  How come I never get a thought in a language I don't understand?  How come my thoughts are often so relevant to my current needs, to the hour of the day? What goes on in the 'back' of my mind?

Vedantam explores many aspects of our behavior that are clearly driven or connected to our minds and yet are often unconscious.  Sometimes, the actions or apparent beliefs are directly opposite to what we say we believe and plan to do.  He discusses unconscious bias in children, legal proceedings, politics, mental development of fanatics and crowd behavior in emergencies.

We have a couple of chapters to go yet but I am confident that he is not going to reveal any great way to know our unconscious beliefs or control them.  I think we just have to be as alert and reflective as we can if we want some chance at avoiding being led by the nose.