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Summary: onward and inward
Review: This book does what would have seemed impossible in 200 pages: coordinates the findings of two decades on emotion & consciousness under an evolutionary framework. Johnston is at once succinct, cogent and accessible; his originality shows both in the choice of example and in the way he's developed his ideas and those of others into a consistent theory. The fundamental assertion,that biology has dictated the conditions and ultimate rationale for emotion, fuses the now-classic research of Antonio Damasio with an evolutionary paradigm introduced by Henry Plotkin. Then, building upon both 'dry' and 'wet' cognitive science, it goes on to illustrate the essentiality and relevance of emotion, answering quite a few 'intractable' issues of consciousness on the way. Johnston is never promotional, and never strains for effect. Though he pays proper attention to his sources, his originality is manifest in the ways in which he fleshes out what would otherwise be a dense set of ideas. This book, then, illustrates a happy coalescence of scholarship and style. One looks forward to its eventual expansion into a comprehensive tome; but, for the moment, it may be read with pleasure & benefit by neophyte and expert alike.
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Summary: Modern, Understandable Cognitive Science at its Best
Review: This book is not only an excellent introduction into the field of emotion but it is probably the only assessable modern synthesis of cognitive science with fundamental biology-evolution and emergent phenomenon. I would also add that anyone interested in artificial intelligence or artificial life will find Dr. Johnston's outstanding and timely simulations of evolving emotional intelligence outstanding examples of empirical cognitive research. If you are professor, graduate student or even a candel stick maker and even remotely interested in any of the following fields; emotion, behavior, evolution, AI, AL, or beauty, by all means buy this book.
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Summary: Inspiring
Review: This is the most inspiring book I read since a long time. Whereas I have never been that much impressed by evolutionary arguments in social behavior, this book gives an exciting perspective. In addition Johnston made evolutionary principles work in the form of some intriguing applications.
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Summary: Truly thought provoking, entertaining and well written.
Review: Wow. I am what could be described as a "slacker" with "some college", but I enjoy reading books about science, particularly those that aim to explain why things are the way they are...I picked up "Why we Feel" because it seemed like an interesting topic. As a matter of fact, the guy at the counter read the tile and commented "That's a good question!". I feel that this is a book everybody should read. It gives so much insight into who we are that I feel truly thankful that I read it. Feelings. What would life be without them? As the author argues, there would be no point to life at all. This book goes a long way to answering questions like why do some things feel good and others feel bad? I would sum it up thus: There is, in reality, no point for life to exist. So, emotions are nature's way of motivating us to keep on living! When you do something that will increase your chances of reproducing, you feel good. This includes falling in love, having sex, gaining resources such as food or shelter, etc. As an example on how a negative emotion helps you live, consider if you were a cave man and you found a bone with a particular size and shape that allowed you to beat up your enemies and kill animals for food. If you lost this tool one day, you would feel deep sadness. This negative feeling would be nature punishing you for losing a valuable resource that increases your chances for survival. The author explains how emotions evolved, and other concepts such as why we consider certain characteristics as "beautiful" and certain tastes as good are really just nature's way of steering us towards what we need to reproduce. The book is short and completely free of fluff or egotistical rambling. The author writes extremely well and keeps a nice constant pace throughout. I read this book in two sittings and will re-read it many times I'm sure. As a non-scientist I found it slightly dense at times, but it's short and interesting enough to re-read. I recommend this book to anyone who is curious about why things are the way they are. If you want to learn about life, not just Human life, but your dog and animals as well, this is a wonderful book. You'll never look at yourself or other people the same way again after being exposed to what modern science has to say about the origin and purpose of human emotions. I will definately buy his next book, if there is one.
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