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MINDSTUCK

Name: MINDSTUCK
Author: Michael McQueen
ISBN: 9781637557396

MASTERING THE ART OF CHANGING MINDS

by Michael McQueen ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 3, 2023

An engaging, paradigm-shifting look at the science of decision-making.

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McQueen presents a series of strategies for shifting positions and adopting new ways of thinking in this nonfiction guide.

“Our perceptions of value may be unconscious,” writes the author, a corporate conference circuit veteran, “but they are extraordinarily powerful.” Once we have an established notion of something, he observes, we tend to color subsequent impressions with that idea, and changing this perspective can be seemingly impossible. McQueen has spent two decades researching trends and technology, and he’s consistently returned to the same question: What stops people from changing, even when they know they should? In these pages, he examines the many ways in which people develop preferences and make decisions. In his view, these processes are governed by the “Instinctive Mind,” which is intuitive and emotional, and the “Inquiring Mind,” which is logical and evaluative. The Instinctive Mind, he writes, is fond of labels and can be untrustworthy, but he stresses that it’s nevertheless sometimes better at making decisions. The key to clear decision-making, the author asserts, is to strike an effective balance between these two minds, and the best strategy for changing fixed positions—your own or somebody else’s—is to figure out which of these is ascendant, and how it can be influenced. McQueen references a satisfying variety of sources to buttress his points, although, like many of those sources, he often lapses into vague, motivational bumper-sticker platitudes, exemplified by this quote from self-help icon Wayne Dyer: “When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change.” The author’s saving grace is his forthright tone; he’s always a clear-eyed, bracing guide to changing old thinking habits. His sharp insights are compelling: “It’s important to clarify that delusion is not a function of ignorance—the undiscerning are not necessarily unintelligent.” Even set-in-their-ways readers will find much of this material invigorating.

An engaging, paradigm-shifting look at the science of decision-making.

Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2023

ISBN: 9781637557396

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Amplify Publishing

Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2023

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

PSYCHOLOGY | BUSINESS | SELF-HELP | LEADERSHIP, MANAGEMENT & COMMUNICATION | GENERAL BUSINESS

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THINK YOU'LL BE HAPPY

MOVING THROUGH GRIEF WITH GRIT, GRACE, AND GRATITUDE

by Nicole Avant ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 17, 2023

Some of Avant’s mantras are overstated, but her book is magnanimous, inspiring, and relentlessly optimistic.

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Memories and life lessons inspired by the author’s mother, who was murdered in 2021.

“Neither my mother nor I knew that her last text to me would be the words ‘Think you’ll be happy,’ ” Avant writes, "but it is fitting that she left me with a mantra for resiliency.” The author, a filmmaker and former U.S. Ambassador to the Bahamas, begins her first book on the night she learned her mother, Jacqueline Avant, had been fatally shot during a home invasion. “One of my first thoughts,” she writes, “was, ‘Oh God, please don’t let me hate this man. Give me the strength not to hate him.’ ” Daughter of Clarence Avant, known as the “Black Godfather” due to his work as a pioneering music executive, the author describes growing up “in a house that had a revolving door of famous people,” from Ella Fitzgerald to Muhammad Ali. “I don’t take for granted anything I have achieved in my life as a Black American woman,” writes Avant. “And I recognize my unique upbringing…..I was taught to honor our past and pay forward our fruits.” The book, which is occasionally repetitive, includes tributes to her mother from figures like Oprah Winfrey and Bill Clinton, but the narrative core is the author’s direct, faith-based, unwaveringly positive messages to readers—e.g., “I don’t want to carry the sadness and anger I have toward the man who did this to my mother…so I’m worshiping God amid the worst storm imaginable”; "Success and feeling good are contagious. I’m all about positive contagious vibrations!” Avant frequently quotes Bible verses, and the bulk of the text reflects the spirit of her daily prayer “that everything is in divine order.” Imploring readers to practice proactive behavior, she writes, “We have to always find the blessing, to be the blessing.”

Some of Avant’s mantras are overstated, but her book is magnanimous, inspiring, and relentlessly optimistic.

Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2023

ISBN: 9780063304413

Page Count: 288

Publisher: HarperOne

Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023

Categories:

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THINKING, FAST AND SLOW

by Daniel Kahneman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 2011

Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...

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A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.

The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.

Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.