Informationen zum Autor Leonard Mlodinow Klappentext We've all been told that thinking rationally is the key to success. But at the cutting edge of science, researchers are discovering that feeling is every bit as important as thinking in this "lively exposé of the growing consensus about the limited power of rationality and decision-making" ( The New York Times Book Review ). You make hundreds of decisions every day, from what to eat for breakfast to how you should invest, and not one of those decisions would be possible without emotion. It has long been said that thinking and feeling are separate and opposing forces in our behavior. But as Leonard Mlodinow, the best-selling author of Subliminal, tells us, extraordinary advances in psychology and neuroscience have proven that emotions are as critical to our well-being as thinking. How can you connect better with others? How can you make sense of your frustration, fear, and anxiety? What can you do to live a happier life? The answers lie in understanding your emotions. Journeying from the labs of pioneering scientists to real-world scenarios that have flirted with disaster, Mlodinow shows us how our emotions can help, why they sometimes hurt, and what we can learn in both instances. Using deep insights into our evolution and biology, Mlodinow gives us the tools to understand our emotions better and to maximize their benefits. Told with his characteristic clarity and fascinating stories, Emotional explores the new science of feelings and offers us an essential guide to making the most of one of nature's greatest gifts. Leseprobe Part I: What Is Emotion? 1 Thought Versus Feeling On the morning of Halloween 2014, a strange aircraft ascended high into the skies above the barren Mojave Desert. The custom-­built carbon-­fiber plane was essentially twin cargo jets flying side by side, joined at the wing. Suspended from that monstrous carrier vessel was a smaller plane dubbed the Enterprise­an homage to Star Trek. The aim was for the cargo jet to carry the Enterprise to an altitude of fifty thousand feet, from where it would be dropped, briefly fire its engines, and then glide to a landing. The planes belonged to Virgin Galactic, the company created by Richard Branson to carry space tourists into suborbital flight. By 2014, more than seven hundred spaceship tickets had been sold, at $200,000 to $250,000 each. This was the thirty-­fifth such test flight but only the fourth in which the Enterprise was meant to fire up its rocket, which had just been redesigned to make it more powerful. The ascent went well. The pilot David Mackay launched the Enterprise from the underside of his carrier plane at the appointed moment. Then his eyes panned across the sky, searching for the plume of the Enterprise's rocket engine. He couldn't spot it. I remember looking down and thinking, 'Well that's strange,'? recalled Mackay, experienced enough to be wary of anything unexpected.1 But all was well. Out of his line of sight, the spaceship had indeed fired its rocket and in about ten seconds accelerated through the sound barrier. The mission was unfolding without incident. The Enterprise was captained by a test pilot named Peter Siebold, with almost thirty years of flying experience. His ­co-­pilot, Michael Alsbury, had previously worked with eight different experimental aircraft. In some ways, the two men were quite different: while Siebold could strike ­co-­workers as aloof, Alsbury was always friendly and known for his sense of humor. But strapped into their seats atop the rocket, they functioned as a unit, each of their lives dependent on the actions of the other. Just before reaching the speed of sound, Alsbury unlocked the ship's air-­braking device. The brake was crucial for controlling the spaceship's orientation and speed while dropping back to earth, but it w...

Autorentext

Leonard Mlodinow

Klappentext

*We’ve all been told that thinking rationally is the key to success. But at the cutting edge of science, researchers are discovering that feeling* is every bit as important as thinking in this "lively exposé of the growing consensus about the limited power of rationality and decision-making" (The New York Times Book Review).

You make hundreds of decisions every day, from what to eat for breakfast to how you should invest, and not one of those decisions would be possible without emotion. It has long been said that thinking and feeling are separate and opposing forces in our behavior. But as Leonard Mlodinow, the best-selling author of Subliminal, tells us, extraordinary advances in psychology and neuroscience have proven that emotions are as critical to our well-being as thinking.
 
How can you connect better with others? How can you make sense of your frustration, fear, and anxiety? What can you do to live a happier life? The answers lie in understanding your emotions. Journeying from the labs of pioneering scientists to real-world scenarios that have flirted with disaster, Mlodinow shows us how our emotions can help, why they sometimes hurt, and what we can learn in both instances.
 
Using deep insights into our evolution and biology, Mlodinow gives us the tools to understand our emotions better and to maximize their benefits. Told with his characteristic clarity and fascinating stories, Emotional explores the new science of feelings and offers us an essential guide to making the most of one of nature’s greatest gifts.

Leseprobe
Part I: What Is Emotion?

1
Thought Versus Feeling

On the morning of Halloween 2014, a strange aircraft ascended high into the skies above the barren Mojave Desert. The custom-­built carbon-­fiber plane was essentially twin cargo jets flying side by side, joined at the wing. Suspended from that monstrous carrier vessel was a smaller plane dubbed the Enterprise—­an homage to Star Trek. The aim was for the cargo jet to carry the Enterprise to an altitude of fifty thousand feet, from where it would be dropped, briefly fire its engines, and then glide to a landing.

The planes belonged to Virgin Galactic, the company created by Richard Branson to carry “space tourists” into suborbital flight. By 2014, more than seven hundred spaceship tickets had been sold, at $200,000 to $250,000 each. This was the thirty-­fifth such test flight but only the fourth in which the Enterprise was meant to fire up its rocket, which had just been redesigned to make it more powerful.

The ascent went well. The pilot David Mackay launched the Enterprise from the underside of his carrier plane at the appointed moment. Then his eyes panned across the sky, searching for the plume of the Enterprise’s rocket engine. He couldn’t spot it. “I remember looking down and thinking, ‘Well that’s strange,’ ” recalled Mackay, experienced enough to be wary of anything unexpected.1 But all was well. Out of his line of sight, the spaceship had indeed fired its rocket and in about ten seconds accelerated through the sound barrier. The mission was unfolding without incident.

The Enterprise was captained by a test pilot named Peter Siebold, with almost thirty years of flying experience. His ­co-­pilot, Michael Alsbury, had previously worked with eight different experimental aircraft. In some ways, the two men were quite different: while Siebold could strike ­co-­workers as aloof, Alsbury was always friendly and known for his sense of humor. But strapped into their seats atop the rocket, they functioned as a unit, each of their lives dependent on the actions of the other.

Just before reaching the speed of sound, Alsbury unlocked the ship’s air-­braking device. The brake was crucial for controlling the spaceship’s orientation and speed while dropping back to earth, but it wouldn’t be needed for anothe…