About the Author

LEONARD MLODINOW received his PhD in theoretical physics from the University of California, Berkeley, was an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at the Max Planck Institute, and now teaches at the California Institute of Technology. His previous books include three New York Times best sellers: War of the Worldviews (with Deepak Chopra), The Grand Design (with Stephen Hawking), and The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives (also a New York Times Notable Book), as well as Feynman’s Rainbow and Euclid’s Window. He also wrote for the television series MacGyver and Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Reviews

WINNER OF THE 2013 PEN/E.O. WILSON LITERARY SCIENCE WRITING AWARD

“With great wit and intelligence, Mlodinow takes us on a sweeping tour of this [mental] landscape and the latest revelations in neuroscience.”
—The Huffington Post

“Mlodinow plunges into the realm of the unconscious mind accompanied by the latest scientific research ... [with] plenty of his trademark humor.”
    —Los Angeles Times

“Clever [and] engaging.... A popular-science beach book, the sort of tome from which cocktail party anecdotes can be mined by the dozen.” —The Oregonian

“Fascinating.... Shows how the idea of the unconscious has become respectable again.” —The Economist

“A must-read book that is both provocative and hugely entertaining.” —Jerry A. Webman, chief economist, OppenheimerFunds, Inc., and author of MoneyShift

“Leonard Mlodinow never fails to make science both accessible and entertaining.”
—Stephen Hawking, author of A Brief History of Time

“An assault against the idea that we control our decisions and our beliefs in the way that we think we do.... A useful addition to the growing body of work arguing convincingly against the idea of the rational human brain.”
—The Daily Beast

“Mlodinow thinks in equations but explains in anecdote, simile, and occasional bursts of neon.... The results are mind-bending.”
    —Fortune

“Mlodinow argues his case persuasively and with humor.”
—The Montreal Gazette

“In a loose, easygoing style, Mlodinow combines numerous accounts of scientific studies with pop-culture references and even personal anecdotes.”
    —Kirkus Reviews

“Mlodinow is the perfect guy to reveal the ways unrelated elements can relate and connect.”
    —The Miami Herald

“This very enlightening book explores the two sides of our mental lives, with a focus on the subconscious or subliminal element. Drawing on clinical research conducted over a period of several decades and containing a number of rather startling revelations ... the book appeals to readers with an interest in the workings of the human mind.”
—Booklist

“Think you know the whys and hows of your choices? Think again. Follow Mlodinow on a gorgeous journey into the enormous mental backstage behind the curtain of consciousness.”
  —David Eagleman, neuroscientist and author of Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain

“With the same deft touch he showed in The Drunkard’s Walk, Mlodinow probes the subtle, automatic, and often unnoticed influences on our behavior.”
     —Daniel J. Simons, professor of psychology, University of Illinois, and coauthor of The Invisible Gorilla

“If you liked The Drunkard’s Walk, you’ll love Subliminal. This engaging and insightful book not only makes neuroscience understandable, it also makes it fascinating. You will look at yourself (and those around you) in a new way.”
     —Joseph T. Hallinan, author of Why We Make Mistakes

“A highly readable, funny, and thought-provoking travelogue by Mlodinow, a trusted traveler in this treacherous region, who leads us on a tour of the little-known country that is our unconscious mind.” —Christof Koch, professor of cognitive and behavioral biology, California Institute of Technology

We are not always in control of our thoughts and decisions. In fact, physicist and science writer Mlodinow (The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives) states, "much of our social perception-like our vision, hearing and memory-appears to proceed along pathways not associated with awareness, intention, or conscious effort." Mlodinow examines the role of the unconscious in everyday decision making, demonstrating that much of the activity we think is under our voluntary control is not. Brain imaging studies in social science experiments have confirmed many findings of experimental psychology: the unconscious, programmed for survival, operates in parallel processes, independently of the conscious mind. Given choices, the unconscious prefers the positive, favors the attractive, values nonverbal cues, and may select the irrational. Mlodinow goes on to discuss the subliminal aspects of common social situations from dating to voting. VERDICT Many of the these topics have been similarly examined in Shankar Vedantam's The Hidden Brain, though Mlodinow introduces the new field of social neuroscience. [See Prepub Alert, 11/14/11.]-Lucille M. Boone, San Jose P.L., CA (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.