Perception, theory, and the mistaken mind

Abstract

Reviews the book, Coming to Our Senses: Perceiving Complexity to Avoid Catastrophes by Viki McCabe (see record [rid]2014-07190-000[/rid]). The book deconstructs disasters ranging from the tragic attack on Iran Air Flight 655 to the rise of Wall Street’s derivatives market and the construction of no-outlet levees that would eventually fail in New Orleans. The book provides several examples of this concept, among them the remarkable process by which we recognize a human face. McCabe has crafted a highly readable book about human nature filled with interesting anecdotes and compelling prose. A casual reader may come away from its pages feeling that he or she learned something profound about the human mind. Yet as the book itself states, 'words easily distort, reframe, or replace what actually is the case without anyone becoming the wiser.' In the end, this book falls prey to many of the errors that it tries to warn against. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)