Exploring The Mind In Language

English 10HP Surrago

Due Date: ________

Exploring the Mind in Language Independent Reading Project The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan Second Nature by Michael Pollan Ishmael & My Ishmael by Daniel Quinn (Note: These two must be read together; they are deliciously fast reads) The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin The Naked Ape by Desmond Morris Why Us? by James Le Fanu Human by Michael Gazzaniga Wider than the Sky by Gerald M. Edelman Mirroring People by Marco Iacoboni The Science of Fear by Daniel Gardner My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte-Taylor Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins

The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks An Anthropologist on Mars by Oliver Sacks The Moral Animal by Robert Wright Emotions Revealed by Paul Ekman The Origins of Virtue by Matt Ridley Love at Goon Park by Deborah Blum Creativity by Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi Flow by Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers by Robert Sapolsky Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge by Edward O. Wilson Becoming Human by Ian Tattersall Why We Do What We Do by Edward L. Deci

You are welcome to suggest other titles: just make sure you run them by me.

Your Task: To write a review, analysis, and critique of one of these books, from the perspective of a journalist who works in the field of psychology, philosophy, or human behavior.

Your Understanding What is the author’s overall theory of human behavior / mind? You’ll need evidence to support this thesis. What contribution does this book offer towards a theory of human behavior / mind? What claim of this author is controversial? Why does he/she make this claim? aka Why is it worth making? Summarize the counter-claims or counterarguments that the author mentions. Explain how the author attacks or adapts these counterarguments.

Your Response Look at the counterarguments: Does he/she leave anything out? Are there other avenues of criticism that this author is vulnerable to? Describe at least one. If you support this author’s position, defend or adapt his position against the criticism you devise. If you don’t support the author, follow through and deconstruct his/her claim. Your response can be a mixture of support and criticism.