I’m going to post a series of things prompted by the reading of a book, both interesting and somewhat upsetting. They fit together in a poetic way, which is the best I can come up with. They are not a review of the book. It’s in its 23rd paperback printing — not a record, but still impressive — so chances are that if you were going to read it you already have. The book in question is Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior by Leonard Mlodinow, pronounced (p. 27) “Ma-lah-DI-nov”. I found the first three quarters of it completely engrossing but the last quarter, or maybe only the last fifth rather irksome. I’ll squeeze most of that into what follows over the next week or so.

Mlodinow is a professor of Physics at CalTech, which means the chances of him being right in the things I accuse him of being wrong in are enormous. He’s also a very likable person, or so it seems, with a fine sense of humor. So I place myself clearly in the inferior position as I express my views. I should also say, as Michael Shermer of Scientific American says on the cover, “I urge you you read the book.” It’s filled almost to the brim with interesting facts and ideas. You should then think it over and complain as I am about to do.

I started to lose interest after the two hundredth psychological test was reviewed. Clearly an exaggeration. Academic psychologists tend to test students. I think that’s a very true statement. So a lot of what teaches us about life comes from people who are just starting to learn about it themselves. But, if you work on a college campus, you work with students. Also, one of the amazing things about the studies reported is that they seem to be significant largely because they contradict the assumptions of the testers. Or, that the tested said one thing but seemed to believe another. I have some politically incorrect interpretations of this which I hope to share.

They will be posted between flower posts and will not have pictures. Like that, you can easily skip them, if you like.