Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind (Houghton Mifflin; 2008)

Harry Stottlemeier's essay — and the "Philosophy for Children" curriculum — is really an example of what psychologists call metacognition, or knowing about knowing. By asking children to reflect on how they know what they know, we may significantly enhance their understanding of the world. Even a single course — call it "The Human Mind: A User's Guide" — could go a long way.

No such guide will give us the memory power to solve square roots in our head, but many of our cognitive peccadilloes are addressable: we can train ourselves to consider evidence in a more balanced way, to be sensitive to biases in our reasoning, and to make plans and choices in ways that better suit our own long-term goals. If we do — if we learn to recognize our limitations and address them head on — we just might outwit our inner kluge.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Amanda Cook, editor of all editors, is a genius with vision who often left me feeling the sort of joy that actors must get when working for a great director. Amanda helped conceive the book and shepherded me through three exacting revisions. As if that weren't enough, I also got fantabulous editorial advice from Neil Belton, my British editor; Don Lamm, half of the team that helped set me up with Amanda and Neil in the first place; and my wife, Athena, who, when it comes to editing, is an amateur with the skills of a professional. It's hard to imagine another author being so lavished in editorial wisdom.

Conceptual wisdom came from a host of friends and colleagues. Zach Woods, Yaacov Trope, Hugh Rabagliati, Athena Vouloumanos, Rachel Howard, Iris Berent, Ezequiel Morsella, Cedric Boeckx, Deanna Kuhn, Erica Roedder, Ian Tattersall, and two sets of students at NYU generously read and critiqued the complete manuscript, while Meehan Crist, Andrew Gerngross, Joshua Greene, George Hadjipavlou, Jon Jost, Steve Pinker, and my father, Phil Marcus, made penetrating comments on individual chapters. I also thank Scott Atran, Noam Chomsky, Randy Gallistel, Paul Glimcher, Larry Maloney, and Massimo Piatelli-Palmarini for helpful discussion. Numerous people, some whom I've never met, helped me with queries ranging from the syntax of Esperanto to the evolution of the

178 Acknowledgments

eyes of animals and the carbon cycle of plants; these include Don Harlow, Lawrence Getzler, Tyler Volk, Todd Gureckis, Mike Landy, and Dan Nilsson; my apologies to those I've failed to thank. I have only my memory to blame.

Christy Fletcher and Don Lamm are the dynamic duo who helped sell this book and connect me with Amanda Cook and Neil Belton; they've been supportive, energetic, and involved, everything an agent (or pair of agents) should be.

Finally, I'd like to thank my family — especially Athena, Mom, Dad, Linda, Julie, Peg, Esther, Ted, and Ben, and my in-laws Nick, Vickie, and the Georges — for their enthusiasm and unstinting support. Writing can be hard work, but with so many talented and loving people behind me, it's always a pleasure.

NOTES

l. REMNANTS OF HISTORY

2 The average person can't keep a list of words straight for a half an

hour: Tulving 8c Craik, 2000. 5 One scientist: Wesson, 1991. 7 "Human cognition approaches an optimal level of performance":

Chater et al., 2006. Superlatively well engineered functional designs: Tooby 8c Cosmides, 1995.

In principle possibility of "inept evolution": Tooby & Cosmides, 1995.

8 The Selfish Gene: Dawkins, 1976. Infanticide: Daly 8c Wilson, 1988. Male overperception of female sexual intent: Haselton 8c Buss, 2000.

9 Evolution as mountain climbing: Dawkins, 1996.

10 Bar-headed goose: Fedde et al., 1989. No guarantee that evolution will ever reach the highest peak: Dawkins, 1982.

11 The inefficiency of the gaps across which neurons communicate: Montague, 2006. 12 New genes in concert with old genes: Marcus, 2004. Evolution like a tinkerer: lacob, 1975.

13 Hindbrain evolution: Rosa-Molinar et al, 2005. Midbrain evolution: Takahashi, 2005. Language and the brain: Gebhart et al, 2002; Demonet et al, 2005.

14 "Progressive overlay of technologies": Allman, 1999.

i8o Notes to Pages 14-43

Chimpanzee overlap: The Chimpanzee Sequencing and Analysis Con

sortium 2005; King & Wilson, 1975.

15 How Doctors Think: Groopman, 2007.

The March of Folly: Tuchman, 1984.

16 Underestimating Mother Nature: Dennett, 1995.

2. MEMORY

18 Teenagers and World War I: Kelly, 2001.

19 Time spent looking for lost items: Tyre, 2004. Skydivers who forgot to pull the ripcord: http://temagami.carleton.ca/

jmc/cnews/i8ii2005/n6.shtml.

22 Remembering the frequent, the recent, and the relevant: Anderson,

1990.

24 Study underwater, test underwater: Godden & Baddeley, 1975.

25 Walking more slowly to the elevator: Bargh et al., 1996.

Soccer hooligans: Dijksterhuis & van Knippenberg, 1998.

Minority groups, priming, and testing: Steele & Aronson, 1995.