Paradoja Del Chimpance, La (2013) - Plot & Excerpts
This book was a real eye opener for me. Not exactly life changing, but it certainly put my mind on a new track. The idea behind this book is that we all have three brains. A human brain, a computer /data brain and a chimp brain. The chimp brain is very emotional, defensive, territorial has strong desires and often takes over. It’s your chimp brain that keeps you in bed in the morning when you know you should get up, or makes you have that cream cake when you know you shouldn’t! The book deals with how to recognise when your chimp brain is raising it’s head and how to manage it. Apparently the chimp brain is 10 times stronger than the human brain, and if you have gremlins embedded that you are up for a real battle. So, as an experiment, I have been writing a “chimp journal” for the last two weeks before I go to bed. Writing my notes down about when my chimp has made an appearance that me (the human) does not approve of during the working day. Something about writing it down makes it register better and you can start to train your chimp. I am sure my work colleagues think I am mad, as I keep saying “that’s my chimp talking!!”. Anyway, a great book and worth a read to explore how your brain works. This is a Jennifer Lopez of a book - fabulous in many ways but with a big "but".It's yet another self-help book (groan). Yes, but this one is actually pretty helpful. It is based on some solid science and the author does know what he is talking about. The main thesis of the book is that our minds are made up of two separate parts - the human and the chimp. The human is rational and intelligent, the chimp is emotional and instinctive. Our problems come when the chimp dominates the human, because the chimp is much more powerful than we are.This bit of the book is very good. Worth the price of admission all but itself. I read it at a difficult time in my life and it was beyond helpful. It was tantamount to being a life saver. It was almost like that Harry meets Sally moment - yes, yes, yes. And it is not just made up pseudo-science. I have a friend who works as a neuroscience specialist who has confirmed that this is your actual, genuine, pukka, science. Based on research by blokes with big brains, shiny foreheads wearing white coats with pens in their top pockets.You want to hear about the but, don't you?After the good stuff about the chimp, the rest of the book didn't work so well for me. It all started to get a bit confusing with "moons of something or other" and "planets of this and that" and a computer. There might have been some useful information in there, but I had trouble keeping track of it all. My eyes glazed over, like that part of the Matrix where the architect is "explaining" everything with words like "ergo" but instead of enlightening me it all made it more confusing.Maybe it's not you, it's me. It happens sometimes with us older men. The second half of the book didn't do it for me.It's four stars for the chimp - it would have been five if the book had stopped about half way in. Maybe we should look at this as a five star book with a free two or three star book thrown in as a bonus?
What do You think about Paradoja Del Chimpance, La (2013)?
Noting new really, just another way to explain the way the mind works, disappointed.
—Abby
Great analogy & well used as a way of explaining our different behaviours
—Ivey3671
