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How Pleasure Works: The New Science of Why We Like What We Like |  | Author: Paul Bloom
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
List Price: $26.95
Buy New: $12.55
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Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 5012
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 280
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.1
ISBN: 0393066320
Dewey Decimal Number: 152.42
EAN: 9780393066326
ASIN: 0393066320
Publication Date: June 14, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Yale psychologist Paul Bloom presents a striking and thought-provoking new understanding of pleasure, desire, and value. The thought of sex with a virgin is intensely arousing for many men. The average American spends more than four hours a day watching television. Abstract art can sell for millions of dollars. People slow their cars to look at gory accidents, and go to movies that make them cry.
Pleasure is anything but straightforward. Our desires, attractions, and tastes take us beyond the symmetry of a beautiful face, the sugar and fat in food, or the prettiness of a painting. In How Pleasure Works, Yale University psychologist Paul Bloom draws on groundbreaking research to unveil the deeper workings of why we desire what we desire. Refuting the longstanding explanation of pleasure as a simple sensory response, Bloom shows us that pleasure is grounded in our beliefs about the deeper nature or essence of a given thing. This is why we want the real Rolex and not the knockoff, the real Picasso and not the fake, the twin we have fallen in love with and not her identical sister.
In this fascinating and witty account, Bloom draws on child development, philosophy, neuroscience, and behavioral economics in order to address pleasures noble and seamy, highbrow and lowbrow. Along the way, he gives us unprecedented insights into a realm of human psychology that until now has only been partially understood. 3 illustrations
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 15
 Where's the science? August 24, 2010
W. J. McMahon (Scituate, MA USA)
Interesting and well written from a philosophical point of view, but the title is very misleading. This book is more about something the author calls essentialism than pleasure. He does contend that pleasure is derived from this essentialism, but provides no scientific evidence to support that point. In fact the only science is this book amounts to a few scattered citings of psychological studies that happen buttress his philosophical arguments.
 Disappointing: More philosophy than scientific rigor August 3, 2010
_LARS_ (USA)
8 out of 11 found this review helpful
With "new science" in the title, I was expecting more from this book. Although a few research studies are mentioned here and there this is more of a philosophical discussion resolving around an essentialist theory of pleasure than something based on scientific research. Whole sections consist of speculative discussions with no evidence to back them up. The author frequently cites works of fiction (e.g. Shakespeare) and passages from the bible to support his arguments. He also often resorts to hearsay with statements such as "some say that..." for support. The book also contains outdated information, for example that female estrus is hidden from males to promote pair bonding, which has since been dis-proven in laboratory tests that indicate that males can detect estrus. (Generally his presentation of conventional model of human sexuality and inequality is outdated. See Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality for more updated information.) The author also has an outdated human-centric view, suggesting that only humans have meta-representation and theory of mind, despite quite a bit of recent evidence to the contrary.
An interesting read, if not a bit meandering August 3, 2010
John Galt (Randolph, NJ United States)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Bloom's book, like Malcolm Gladwell's, is best when it takes an interesting anecdote or observation and teases out the relevant science, drawing from contemporary research in psychology and cognitive science. Unlike other critiques (of both writers) I have no problem with this general formula, even as it sometimes skips an exhaustive scientific overview in favor of a more thematic, story-based tale. It is rather the execution of this approach that I found somewhat lacking. Bloom's central theme, essentialism, is an interesting one, but once explained it isn't enough to carry the book, which floats from topic to topic, sometimes seemingly held back by a desire not to stray too far from the central theme, sometimes spread too thin by trying to cover too much. Ultimately an interesting read, but not as captivating or surprising as I hoped it would be.
 Very little about pleasure July 31, 2010
Eric William (Michigan)
5 out of 9 found this review helpful
Most of the examples are classic studies about perception, not pleasure. Ex: experts were given white wine in dark glasses. The experts were then asked to rate the RED wine. The expert described the white wine with terms used only for REDs. Thus, the experts sense of taste was overridden by their expectation of red wines.
While interesting, what did this have to do with pleasure?
Also, way to much time spent on people who eat human body parts.
This seemed more of a collection of studies on WHAT people like, but none on HOW pleasure works.
 Extremely Accessible Popular Science July 29, 2010
T. Markey
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Often science writers can make even the most exciting topics, such as pleasure, boring and technical. Bloom takes advantage of the inherently interesting topic he's writing about and his own extensive psychological knowledge to deliver a book that is both intelligent and fun. Bloom is primarily a developmental psychologist, and this book touches on his work with babies and young children many times. Bloom develops his theory of the human mind- the idea that we are all born essentialists- and surprises the reader with fun trivia along the way. The writing is clear and concise throughout. This is what popular science writing is supposed to be like!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 15
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