How Pleasure Works

The book inside is an even better book than the one the title promises… Bloom is a superb writer. His gift is in writing beautifully but plainly, and anticipating everything a reader will need to know in order to appreciate the point he will ultimately make…it was a great pleasure to read * Globe and Mail (Canada) *Paul Bloom is among the deepest thinkers and clearest writers in the science of mind today. He has a knack for coming up with genuinely new insights about mental life…and making them seem second nature through vivid examples and lucid explanations – Steven PinkerBloom is a serious professional who knows his stuff – Michael Bywater * Literary Review *Thoughtful and entertaining * Times Literary Supplement *Bloom’s book is different from the slew already out there about happiness. No advice here about how to become happier by organising your closets; Bloom is after something deeper than the mere stuff of feeling good – Robin Heniq * The Scotsman *This book is not just a pleasure, but a revelation, by one of psychology’s deepest thinkers and best writers. Lucid and fascinating, you’ll want to read it slowly and savor the experience – Daniel Gilbert, author of Stumbling on HappinessReading his book is like stargazing with your favorite cool professor while high * Newsweek *In this eloquent and provocative book, Paul Bloom takes us inside the paradoxes of pleasure, exploring everything from cannibalism to Picasso to IKEA furniture. The quirks of delight, it turns out, are a delightful way to learn about the human mind – Jonah Lehrer, author of How We DecideFollowing the path of pleasure, Bloom leads us through a menagerie of human strangeness. By the end of the trip, the ‘magic inside us’ begins to make sense. This book is a pearl, a work of great beauty and value, built up around a simple truth: that we are essentialists, tuned in to unseen order – Jonathan Haidt, author of The Happiness HypothesisHow Pleasure Works has one of the best discussions I’ve read of why art is pleasurable, why it matters to us, and why it moves us so – Daniel Levitin, author of This Is Your Brain On Music

Paul Bloom is Professor of Psychology at University of Toronto and the Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Yale University. His research explores the psychology of morality, identity and pleasure. Bloom is the recipient of multiple awards and honours, including the million-dollar Klaus J. Jacobs Research Prize. He has written for scientific journals and for the New York Times, New Yorker, Atlantic and Guardian. He is the author or editor of eight books, including Just Babies, How Pleasure Works, Descartes’ Baby and Against Empathy.

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