Book description
If a gorilla walked out into the middle of a basketball pitch, you'd
notice it. Wouldn't you? If a serious violent crime took place just next
to you, you'd remember it, right? The Invisible Gorilla is a fascinating
look at the unbelievable, yet routine tricks that your brain plays on you.
In an award-winning and groundbreaking study, psychologists Christopher
Chabris and Daniel Simons asked volunteers to watch a 60-second film of
a group of students playing basketball and told them to count the number
of passes made. About halfway through, a woman dressed head to toe in a
gorilla outfit slowly moved to centre screen, beat her chest at the
camera, and casually strolled away. Unbelievably, almost half of the
volunteers missed the gorilla.
As this astonishing and utterly unique book demonstrates, exactly the
same kind of mental illusion that causes people to miss the gorilla can
also explain why many other things, including why:
• honest eyewitness testimony can convict innocent defendants
• expert money managers suddenly lose billions
• Homer Simpson has much to teach you about clear thinking
Insightful, witty, and fascinating, The Invisible Gorilla closely
examines the false impressions that most profoundly influence our lives
and gives practical advice on how we can minimize their negative impact.
"Entertaining and illuminating"
Dan Ariely, New York Times bestselling author of Predictably Irrational
"A riveting romp across the landscape of our psychological misperceptions."
Nicholas A. Christakis, Professor, Harvard Medical School
"This book will delight all who seek depth and insight into the
wonder and complexities of cognition"
Jerome Groopman, Recanati Professor, Harvard Medical School
"breathtaking and insightful"
Richard Wiseman, author of Quirkology
"Like its authors, the book is both funny and smart"
Joseph T. Hallinan, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Why We Make Mistakes
"incredibly engaging…a must-read"
Elizabeth Loftus, author of Memory and Eyewitness Testimony
"engaging, accurate and packed with real-world examples - some of
which made me laugh out loud"
Sandra Aamodt, co-author of Welcome To Your Brain
"not just witty and engaging, but also insightful"
Thomas W. Malone, author of The Future of Work and founder of the MIT
Center for Collective Intelligence
"The Invisible Gorilla should be required reading by every judge
and jury member in our criminal justice system, along with every
battlefield commander, corporate CEO, and, well, you and I"
Michael Shermer, Publisher of Skeptic magazine and author of Why People
Believe Weird Things
"Clever, illuminating, by turns shocking and delightful, this book
will change a lot of your bad habits and could even save your life"
Margaret Heffernan, CEO and author of Women on Top Christopher F.
Chabris and Daniel J. Simons won the 2004 Ig Nobel Prize in Psychology
for Gorillas in Our Midst. Chabris is an Assistant Professor in the
Department of Psychology at Union College in New York. He was formerly a
Lecturer and Research Associate in the Psychology Department at Harvard.
Simons is a Professor Department of Psychology and the Beckman Institute
for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois. Both
authors have had research published in top scientific journals with
extensive media coverage worldwide.
