Rating: 
Summary: Battling the Inner Dummy : The Craziness of Apparently Norma
Review: A friend and I were discussing President Clinton's foibles when I asked, "What was he thinking?" My friend said, "Funny you should say that" and recommended Dave Weiner's book. Psychoanalysis is not my thing, however, I found "Battling the Inner Dummy" to be an enjoyable and stimulating read that provides an interesting perspective as to why seemingly intelligent and rational people do stupid things. I really liked the book.
Rating:
Summary: Mind Over Matter
Review: David Weiner has put together a truly entertaining book which answers the question,"What place in a person's mind allows generally reasonable people to do generally universally agreed upon unreasonable things?"Well researched, this book looks at real world examples, knowing the reader applies them to themselves and to the people, they know. Great chapters outline the base "limbic drives" present in all people. This mix of limbic drives is what powers our personalities and our actions, and this book offers explanations and a scorecard to see where the reader falls with regard to "average" behaviors. In the end, you have a better understanding of personality and actions, and a solid knowledge of the Inner Dummy in all of us. GREAT READING !
Rating:
Summary: Weiner is No Dummy When Explaining Human Behavior
Review: David Weiner's Battling the Inner Dummy is a popular introduction to the fields of psychiatry and clinical psychology with unique features that make it the best in its class. *It doesn't simply review the leading theories about the genesis of mental illness, but also presents its own: that the limbic or primal region of the brain triggers responses to events in life that are often terribly conterproductive to a rational existence. He labels this primitive mental terrain the "Inner dummy," the ID, with obvious reference to Freud's metaphor for the dark or irrational region of the human psyche. *He has done impressive research in a field that is complex and conflicted, and provided his non-specialist readership with a clear guide to the causes of human craziness and the best ways to wage war with our irrational side. *He has collaborated wth a leading psychiatrist, Gilbert Hefter, who provides short commentaries at the end of each chapter that both clarify and validate Weiner's ideas. *He brings Freud himself into the book as the leading character in a novella woven into the chapters that almost literally brings the father of psychoanalysis back to life, makes him a real person for the reader, and provides delightful dramatic respites to the book's theoretical material. *He is candid about his own battles with the Inner Dummy and those of people he has known and worked with during a long career in the advertising field. And he relates these stories with a dry and delightful wit. *He leaves the reader with a new empathy for the plight of the mentally ill and a new undestanding of why normal folks can act so abnormally at times. One comes away with both a fuller understanding of the psyche and a renewed hope that humankind can attain a higher degree of mental health and thereby a better world. --Benjamin J. Hubbard, Ph. D., Chair, Department of Comparative Religion, California State University, Fullerton
Rating: 
Summary: 400 pages of type, including 2 pages of subject content
Review: Did you know that the human brain has been analyzed as having three compartments? According to this analysis, the innermost brain, inherited from our reptilian ancestors, houses the most basic instincts. The next layer, inherited from our earliest mammalian ancestors, is called the limbic system. This section houses the emotions. The outermost layer, developed still later, is called the neocortex. This section houses our higher thinking skills. If you didn't know that before, do you understand it now? If so, then you have just read pages 38 and 39 of "Battling the Inner Dummy." So you know all the author has to say about the triune brain. Throughout the rest of the book, the author talks about everything under the sun. One chapter is an introductory course on Abnormal Psychology. Another chapter introduces us to the Theory of Relativity. In three more chapters, we get an overview of psychotherapy techniques. For reasons known only to himself, the author devises 10-point scales for various personality traits. There is also an extended scenario in which Freud comes back as a consultant for an advertising campaign. You might find it entertaining, you might think it's kyootsee-kyoot. Here are some important questions which Weiner gives only a cursory glance: Why are male heterosexuality and female heterosexuality so different? Men patronize prostitutes and porno magazines, whereas women patronize drugstore novels. A look at our primeval past can answer this question. Why are people attracted to illegal drugs? Why are people attracted to foods which overdose on sugar, salt, and fat? Probably because such stimuli did not make their appearance soon enough in the history of the human brain. The remaining questions Weiner does not discuss at all: Why is there so much misunderstanding between women and men? Women exhort men to be honest about their feelings, but to no avail. Men refuse to ask for directions when they are lost, much to women's distress. These questions, too, can be answered in terms of the triune brain. Why does a schoolteacher see the classroom as a battleground and see the students as enemies? Probably because the schoolteacher is clicking on the wrong section of the brain. Why is one person so often proud of another person's accomplishment? When a citizen from your hometown wins a big competition, the whole town celebrates. Why should anyone else be proud when it was only that one person's accomplishment?
Likely because the citizens unconsciously think they are at war with everybody else. Why are we so undiplomatic in expressing our opinions to a person who disagrees with us? After all, we want to influence the other person. Insulting and threatening that person will certainly not do the trick! Here again, our battle instincts come to the surface. Why does prejudice rear its ugly head so often? Most likely because foreign language textbooks are a recent invention. If someone who looked and acted differently from you came up to you and said "Buenos dias," you wouldn't know WHAT that meant! The safest assumption is that it means "I'm going to eat you alive!" What poses, gestures, and physical features make children cute, make women sexy, and make men manly? Lorenz (0674846303 and 0452011752), Tinbergen (1558210490), and Eibl-Eibesfeldt (0670167096 and 0416074804) have interesting answers to these questions, but Weiner apparently hasn't read about them. If Weiner is so interested in psychological abnormalities, he could consider the effects of living in nuclear families while our inner brains are programmed for living in extended families. Many of our psychological problems--such as pedophilia--involve treating a person of one age or gender as we could more appropriately treat a person of another age or gender. It is reasonable to suggest that an upbringing in the presence of people of all ages and both genders could preclude such problems. Why do liberals and conservatives fight an ongoing battle in many countries? Some animals are interdependent because they hunt in packs. Some animals are independent because they hunt alone. Some animals are half and half because they hunt both ways. That's why all dogs are Democrats, all cats are Republicans, and humans are half and half. There is much to be said about evolutionary psychology. So why does Weiner say so little?
Rating:
Summary: 400 pages of type, including 2 pages of subject content
Review: Did you know that the human brain has been analyzed as having three compartments? According to this analysis, the innermost brain, inherited from our reptilian ancestors, houses the most basic instincts. The next layer, inherited from our earliest mammalian ancestors, is called the limbic system. This section houses the emotions. The outermost layer, developed still later, is called the neocortex. This section houses our higher thinking skills. If you didn't know that before, do you understand it now? If so, then you have just read pages 38 and 39 of "Battling the Inner Dummy." So you know all the author has to say about the triune brain. Throughout the rest of the book, the author talks about everything under the sun. One chapter is an introductory course on Abnormal Psychology. Another chapter introduces us to the Theory of Relativity. In three more chapters, we get an overview of psychotherapy techniques. For reasons known only to himself, the author devises 10-point scales for various personality traits. There is also an extended scenario in which Freud comes back as a consultant for an advertising campaign. You might find it entertaining, you might think it's kyootsee-kyoot. Here are some important questions which Weiner gives only a cursory glance: Why are male heterosexuality and female heterosexuality so different? Men patronize prostitutes and porno magazines, whereas women patronize drugstore novels. A look at our primeval past can answer this question. Why are people attracted to illegal drugs? Why are people attracted to foods which overdose on sugar, salt, and fat? Probably because such stimuli did not make their appearance soon enough in the history of the human brain. The remaining questions Weiner does not discuss at all: Why is there so much misunderstanding between women and men? Women exhort men to be honest about their feelings, but to no avail. Men refuse to ask for directions when they are lost, much to women's distress. These questions, too, can be answered in terms of the triune brain. Why does a schoolteacher see the classroom as a battleground and see the students as enemies? Probably because the schoolteacher is clicking on the wrong section of the brain. Why is one person so often proud of another person's accomplishment? When a citizen from your hometown wins a big competition, the whole town celebrates. Why should anyone else be proud when it was only that one person's accomplishment?
Likely because the citizens unconsciously think they are at war with everybody else. Why are we so undiplomatic in expressing our opinions to a person who disagrees with us? After all, we want to influence the other person. Insulting and threatening that person will certainly not do the trick! Here again, our battle instincts come to the surface. Why does prejudice rear its ugly head so often? Most likely because foreign language textbooks are a recent invention. If someone who looked and acted differently from you came up to you and said "Buenos dias," you wouldn't know WHAT that meant! The safest assumption is that it means "I'm going to eat you alive!" What poses, gestures, and physical features make children cute, make women sexy, and make men manly? Lorenz (0674846303 and 0452011752), Tinbergen (1558210490), and Eibl-Eibesfeldt (0670167096 and 0416074804) have interesting answers to these questions, but Weiner apparently hasn't read about them. If Weiner is so interested in psychological abnormalities, he could consider the effects of living in nuclear families while our inner brains are programmed for living in extended families. Many of our psychological problems--such as pedophilia--involve treating a person of one age or gender as we could more appropriately treat a person of another age or gender. It is reasonable to suggest that an upbringing in the presence of people of all ages and both genders could preclude such problems. Why do liberals and conservatives fight an ongoing battle in many countries? Some animals are interdependent because they hunt in packs. Some animals are independent because they hunt alone. Some animals are half and half because they hunt both ways. That's why all dogs are Democrats, all cats are Republicans, and humans are half and half. There is much to be said about evolutionary psychology. So why does Weiner say so little?
Rating:
Summary: An Enlightening Read!!
Review: If you want to know why our minds sometimes drive us to do stupid, irrational things, then this is the book to read. It gets beneath the surface of our brain/minds to examine the actual programs of our subconscious minds, which Weiner has pieced together from a myriad of references. He describes how it is largely impervious to direct rational reasoning (we can't just tell ourselves that it is foolish to be phobic about airplanes and rid ourselves of the phobia), and is why he has selected the metaphor Inner Dummy to describe this instinctive/emotional system. The book also describes in an almost playful, yet erudite way, every therapeutic strategy we might use ourselves or recommend to others in changing the nature of unwanted quirks, phobias, compulsions or other disorders that can lead us to irrational thought and action. This book definitely deserves five stars.
Rating:
Summary: An Enlightening Read!!
Review: If you want to know why our minds sometimes drive us to do stupid, irrational things, then this is the book to read. It gets beneath the surface of our brain/minds to examine the actual programs of our subconscious minds, which Weiner has pieced together from a myriad of references. He describes how it is largely impervious to direct rational reasoning (we can't just tell ourselves that it is foolish to be phobic about airplanes and rid ourselves of the phobia), and is why he has selected the metaphor Inner Dummy to describe this instinctive/emotional system. The book also describes in an almost playful, yet erudite way, every therapeutic strategy we might use ourselves or recommend to others in changing the nature of unwanted quirks, phobias, compulsions or other disorders that can lead us to irrational thought and action. This book definitely deserves five stars.
Rating: 
Summary: This this my review or just my Inner Dummy speaking...
Review: Not a bad book. Quite entertaining at times. However, it was repeditive in it attempt to discuss drives/motives and scales for each. I'm not a big psychoanalytical fan, I admire Freud for his work and his attempt to conceptualize problems well before he had instruments to measure/see them. However, I think Carl Jung was right to characterize psychoanalysis as a religion, because it wasn't based on fact. Sneaking Edward Bernays in the end was a bit of a shock (for those you who want an introduction read the 'Father of Spin' obtain at this website)! Its too bad Weiner didn't flesh out more of Bernay's PR battles for the American Fruit Company in Guatemala which costed countless thousand of lives! It appears we write very little of our "hero's" transgressions than our enemies. Maybe Mr.Weiner would like to consult with his ID to tell us why?
Rating:
Summary: What was Weiner thinking of?
Review: The Inner Dummy needed a good editor to cut it in half. This sprawling, wordy book actually is two entirely different books, one of which nobody needs to read. The part that nobody needs to read is the story of Sigmund Freud's supposed return to earth, after being dead 60 years, to participate in an advertising agency's project to market products based on the author's -- David L. Weiner's -- concept of an Inner Dummy. The chapters which tell this story -- and they do make up half of the book -- are an especially tedious way for Weiner to explain his concept of an Inner Dummy, which he loosely bases on Freud's concept of the Id. Weiner's Inner Dummy is just the unreasonable, irrational part of us that hungers for one thing or another and gets some of us in more or less trouble as we try to appease our hungers.
Rating:
Summary: Lively, Entertaining and Informative
Review: This book does an amazing job in telling us how our minds really work. I have found most books on this subject to be tedious and difficult to read. But because Weiner keeps the writing lively and entertaining as well as informative, and intersperses his text with an imaginary and imaginative sub-plot involving Sigmund Freud, the book makes for a great read.
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