Quirkology: How We Discover The Big Truths In Small Things (2007) - Plot & Excerpts
The book covers psychological facts of everyday life. Although the book proves a bunch of common sense facts such a positive environment creates a positive mindset, there were couple of interesting factoids that I did not know before reading the book such as:1)Certain people can will themselves to live longer by focusing on a goal with a deadline2)It is easier to detect liars through the words they uses instead of non-verbal cues a. Liars tend to provide less details and be vague and they try to distance themselves psychologically from their false statements so they have fewer statements about themselves/their feelings in their story line. They also tend to remember detailed facts. b. A real smile can be told by a deeper wrinkle in their eyes. People who smile more are happier. c. Da Vinci's Mona Lisa is enigmatic because you do not know whether or not the woman in the painting is happy or not. If one looks at the mouth, the woman looks like she is unhappy but if one looks at the eyes it looks like she is genuinely happy.3) People tend to believe in superstitions more in times of uncertainty because they want control in their lives. I guess this is the reason that religion is against superstitions because it supplants the belief in God.4)Subliminal messages in TV do not work5)Names can determine your fate6)Your environment can influence the way you think7)Presenting yourself well can make other people like you better8)Getting the object of your affection heart rate up when meeting them can make them in loved with you. This happens in war situations or scary movies9)Love at first sight happens when you are keyed into the object of your affection non-verbal cues of interest10) Laughing is good for your health and well-being11)Comedy and religious fundamentalism do not mix because great humor involves mixing elements that do not go together, threaten authority, contain sexually explicit scenes and laughing means a loss of self-control and self-discipline all antithetical to the principles of religious fundamentalism12) TV anti-social programs have no effect in real world violence13)People tend to help others more often if they are similar to themselves (related to kin altruism)14) People have no problems stealing from an institution or a machine but do not steal from people they relate to.15) Religious tend to be more altruistic16) People who live in a fast pace city and increase population density tend to be less friendly and helpful because they suffer from sensory overload. People who experience sensory overload tend to prioritize what they need to focus on so they become goal-oriented and thus less friendly/helpful. Because, they are less friendly to others, they tend to become more isolated and lonlier17)To combat the worlds trend of becoming a more isolated, creating a sense of community is important. One can create this sense by first initiating others to smaller acts of altruism followed by larger acts.18) People become what other expect them to be19) Lucky people tend to be lucky because they believe that they are luck and create opportunities for themselves20)People born in warmer climates tend to be luckier than people born in colder climates because the weather forces people to be kept warm in colder climates thus less likely to explore21)Astrology works because it engages in flattery and being vague
I think as a kid I might have liked this, however I don't think the book is aimed at children. To be honest, I'm not sure who should read this book - it is bad. BAD!If Mr Wiseman spent more time researching fresh material and less time jumping to wild, baseless suppositions this might be a better book. How could it not be? One thing that annoyed me is his desperate need to prove how clever he is. Constant references to his kinship and associations with the world's greatest minds and how "Wiseman" is a very fitting name for such a smart one, if he does say so himself. We are constantly reminded about his PHD and the fact that he is a scientist - does it really need to be stated this often? At one point he visually likens himself to Sigmund Freud by having a photo taken on Freud's very own couch imitating the founder of modern psychology! I'm no psychologist, but me thinks someone is insecure...Most of the stuff in this book could be written by anyone with a vague interest in the behaviour of people, which is nearly everyone who can read. In fact, most people would actually draw some conclusions or insight about mankind instead of proverbially jumping about the book like a manic first year psychology student on acid. I kid you not, at one point in the book he fills most of the chapter with jokes. The first couple were interesting as you think he's going to explain about reasoning behind the humour, but he goes on to list dozens of them and I could tell he was running out of "interesting" little nuggets to write about. He then makes some rather weak minded claim that all jokes are made because of the sense of superiority the joke teller feels when laughing at someone else. Professor Wiseman forgets that jokes generally paint a scene about a person or typecast that is iconic and known to everyone and this is the reason jokes seem to be targeting other people. It has to be this way so that the joke teller can relate an image to the listener. The only way around this would be to tell a joke about a person of non specific race or gender, who has a mean average IQ of 100, walking into a high street bar of a non specific town or city. The barman or woman or robot asks "Why the averagely long face Sir or Madam?" All jokes are about The wife, husband, celebrity, blonde girl, Irishman, solicitor or social workers etc etc. They have to be about somebody!Also, Mr Not-so-wiseman seem to think it's odd that cause and effect relate to each other. Hmm. Numerous times throughout the book he states examples whereby people have been exposed to a certain stimulus, for example been forced to listen to prejudice religious and ethnic propaganda disguised as jokes about Jews, and then afterwards they are asked their opinion on Jewish people. Guess what? Those exposed to the propaganda are slightly affected by it. Wow. Also, did you know that Women tend to prefer jokes about things that interest them as opposed to things that interest men??? Mind = blown!The fact that he is an iconic celebrity and that he looks like a stereotypical scientist is why the book sells and why people read it. Very disappointing. Avoid.
What do You think about Quirkology: How We Discover The Big Truths In Small Things (2007)?
In the introduction, the author presents the asinine hypothesis of Sir Francis Galton (Charles Darwin's cousin) that prayer obviously doesn't work because members of the clergy don't on average live longer than ordinary folk. This of course assumes that the clergy specifically pray for longer lives and that God is a genie who says yes to everything.Fortunately the introduction's flawed logic isn't a harbinger of what's to come...mostly. Most of the studies that the author himself undertook were quite objective and thorough, but still, there were quite a few instances were obvious explanations were overlooked like, for example, in the section 'inching forward in the polls' (pg 149 in my copy), he describes how "our primate brains hold onto their evolutionary past, and so still associate tall people with success", when it's obviously far more likely that in a world fraught with physical violence, subconsciously we want to be on the good side of those that are biggest. Also in his experiment to see which cities have the fastest pace of life (in the epilogue), he doesn't take the weather into account - people walk faster because they are cold. It's unsurprising that it was mostly warmer areas at the bottom of the list (pg 264 in my copy).It also seemed that in some instances the author had an agenda and forgot to be objective. One example is where he quite nicely debunks certain superstitions but then glosses over others as if every superstition ever is now officially groundless. One is the concept of the 'law of contagion' (Under section 'Contagious Thinking', pg 104-6 in my copy). Some quantum physics studies are showing that inanimate objects do have a certain level of consciousness and can contain a memory or impression, so superstition in this regard isn't so obviously silly as suggested.On a positive note, I personally thought the newspaper experiment to find out if optimists are luckier surprising and quite clever. I found the lie detection techniques pretty interesting, and the discovery of how memory can be manipulated slightly disturbing. The experiment about the blind jury was brilliant.I do think there are a couple of nuggets to be had in reading this book, but if nothing else its fairly entertaining and a smooth read.I docked a star because of the author discussing the findings of an experiment involving the shocking of puppies (under the heading 'It's a small, small world, and year-on year shrinkage' - pg 110 in my copy). Any findings as a result of animal cruelty should always be disregarded to prevent future such studies from occurring.
—Roxane Lapa
Second reading of Quirkology was as enjoyable as the first. This time through, I made notes. In my own interest of quirk, I'll look at some of Wiseman's references to see what he saw. From the curiosity of chronopsychology, down the lane of deception, across the sidewalk crack of superstition, the oddity we call decision-making, an international laugh lab, to why we help (or don't help) other Wiseman offers study and results on some questions that reflect the bizarre way humans process the every day. Equipped now with notes, I can look up the author’s references. I am particularly keen to watch a few episodes of Tomorrow's World and World in Action. Oh and to read the report on The World's Funniest Joke. On a side note, I'd have given this four star but for lack of an index. Unless I am reading fiction, I expect an index to allow me the ability to go back to places in the book that I found interesting. This book has no index...and it can really use one.
—Derrick Trimble
Reading through the book, I came across a few notable errors- some very questionable conclusions in a study, basing a section on a "quote" from Freud that he never said, a statistic that the author admitted in the footnotes that he made up- and I couldn't help but wonder how many other errors the book contained that I didn't know enough to correct. While it was an entertaining read, that level of uncertainty left me feeling like I couldn't necessarily accept it as a fact, so it could only be entertainment to me.
—Devin
