The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature
by Steven Pinker
List Price:
Our Price: $11.34
You Save: $6.66 (37%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $6.19 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Steven PinkerEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-08-26
ISBN: 0142003344
Number of pages: 528
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780142003343
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature
Book Review: "that eternally fascinating thing we call human nature"
Summary: 5 Stars
First of all, this is one of the best science books I have read. It is very long and detailed, and some have complained about the thoroughness of the work, but as such, it reminded me of how it was to read "On the Origin of Species" by Charles Darwin. It is that well argued, with copious references, and places the idea of the human brain as a blank slate in the trash bin where it belongs with flat earth theory and intelligent design.
It is difficult to review this book which already has over 200 very detailed reviews, so my focus on this review will be the error of some of the negative reviews.
The thesis of this book is simply that there is such a thing as human nature. The reason the argument is being put forth in the book is because there have been three main alternate hypotheses for what humans are guided by in regard to their minds. The three ideas that have been argued in the past have been:
1. The Blank Slate
2. The Noble Savage
3. The Ghost in the Machine
These may be self-explanatory, but the blank slate is the idea that the brain has no built in propensities, and thus may be entirely guided and developed by environment. The noble savage is the idea that native man without civilization is much more gentle and peaceable than civilized man. The ghost in the machine is the idea promoted by many religions that there is a spirit or soul which is the being, and so the brain is not really the source of the mind.
It appears many of the negative reviews have spouted many of the arguments for one of these ideas, and therefore the reviewers may not have actually read the book, wherein Pinker thoroughly shreds each of these ideas, and the arguments put forth by the reviewers.
I will not explain Pinker's view of human nature in detail here, as it is done in great detail in the book, as well as in many of the excellent reviews already present, but I will simply say that the theory he promotes is infinitely more reasonable, being an amalgam of genetics, epigenetics, biological development, and environment, in varying degrees. I leave it to the intelligent reader to come to their own conclusions as to which of these ideas has the most merit, and read the book if you want to read one of the most erudite books of our time, keeping in mind that to explain a thing is not to endorse ugly side effects of that thing.
Psychology & Counseling Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Psychology & Counseling Books
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Valuesby Robert M. Pirsig
Harper Perennial; Published: 2000-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.25
Price in other shops:
Surviving Schizophrenia: A Manual for Families, Consumers, and Providers (4th Edition)by E. Fuller Torrey
Harper Paperbacks; Published: 2001-05-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.95
Price in other shops:
Surviving Schizophrenia: A Manual for Families, Consumers and Providersby E. Fuller Torrey
Perennial; Published: 1995-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.68
Price in other shops:
The Evolving Self: A Psychology for the Third Millenniumby Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Harper Perennial; Published: 1994-06-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.75
Price in other shops:
How People Changeby Allen Wheelis
William Morrow Paperbacks; Published: 1975-07-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.47
Price in other shops:
Sleeping Through the Night, Revised Edition: How Infants, Toddlers, and Their Parents Can Get a Good Night's Sleepby Jodi A. Mindell
William Morrow Paperbacks; Published: 2005-03-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.45
Price in other shops:
Emotional Blackmail: When the People in Your Life Use Fear, Obligation and Guilt to Manipulate Youby Susan Forward, Donna Frazier, Susan Frazier
Harpercollins; Published: 1997-05; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.95
Price in other shops:
Obedience to Authority: An Experimental Viewby Stanley Milgram
Harpercollins; Published: 1974-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $532.97
My Life Among the Serial Killers: Inside the Minds of the World's Most Notorious Murderersby Helen Morrison, Harold Goldberg
William Morrow; Published: 2004-05-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.97
Price in other shops:
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Managing Stressby Jeffrey P.; Davidson, Jeff Davidson
Macmillan Distribution; Published: 1996; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.33
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
The Mating Mind: How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Natureby Geoffrey Miller
Anchor; Published: 2001-04-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.15
Price in other shops:
The Moral Animal: Why We Are, the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychologyby Robert Wright
Vintage; Published: 1995-08-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.03
Price in other shops:
The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother (10th Anniverary Edition)by James McBride
Riverhead Trade; Published: 2006-02-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.00
Price in other shops:
The Daodejing of Laoziby Laozi
Hackett Publishing; Published: 2003-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.00
Price in other shops:
The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Natureby Steven Pinker
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2008-08-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.50
Price in other shops:
Gilgamesh: A New English Versionby Stephen Mitchell
Free Press; Published: 2006-01-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.00
Price in other shops:
The Power and the Glory (Penguin Classics)by Graham Greene
Penguin Classics; Published: 2003-02-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.00
Price in other shops:
The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language (P.S.)by Steven Pinker
Harper Perennial Modern Classics; Published: 2007-09-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.12
Price in other shops:
How the Mind Worksby Steven Pinker
Baker and Taylor; W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 2009-06-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.48
Price in other shops:
The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declinedby Steven Pinker
Viking Adult; Published: 2011-10-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $19.16
Price in other shops: