The Invisible Gorilla
by Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons
The Week
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People have far more confidence in their powers of perception than neurobiologists Chabris and Simons think they should, said David Shaywitz in The Wall Street Journal. In 1999, the pair showed how test subjects, when paying attention to something else in a video, could miss something as obvious as a man in a gorilla suit. Here, they march through the many ways we deceive ourselves, offering “a thoughtful introduction” to a fascinating field.
Being Wrong
by Kathryn Schulz
(Ecco, $27)
Journalist Kathryn Schulz wants us to wake up to our limitations, too, but mostly so we recognize that human error can be a useful tool for generating knowledge, said Dwight Garner in The New York Times. Schulz’s “funny and philosophical meditation” on our goof-ups makes the claim that being wrong is too common a predicament to be deemed a symptom of intellectual inferiority. She wants a world of less assured, more open-minded arguments, and “it’s lovely to see” how her shrewd, lively writing makes that idea take flight.
Not Exactly
by Kees van Deemter
(Oxford, $30)
Computer scientist Kees van Deemter champions our facility for vagueness, said John Gilbey in the London Times. In this “amusing, persuasive” book, he reminds us that imprecision can be invaluable to conversations about such uncomfortable issues as poverty or obesity, and needn’t mean muddled thinking. A section on the challenges of creating computers that can manage vagueness as deftly as we do “adds significantly” to the larger argument.
Quantum
by Manjit Kumar
(Norton, $28)
Albert Einstein “was for many years regarded as a stubborn, even senile holdout” when he refused to accept the theory of quantum mechanics that fellow physicists outlined in the 1920s, said Laura Miller in Salon.com. Manjit Kumar’s “challenging and trippy” new account of Einstein and Niels Bohr’s decades-long dialogue on the subject makes “the weird, protean, paradoxical subatomic world” nearly comprehensible—while suggesting that the jury is still out on whether Bohr’s understanding was truly correct.
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Music reviews: Chance the Rapper, Cass McCombs, and Molly TuttleFeature "Star Line," "Interior Live Oak," and "So Long Little Miss Sunshine"
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Film reviews: Eden and Honey Don't!Feature Seekers of a new utopia spiral into savagery and a queer private eye prowls a high-desert town
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Critics' choice: Three chefs fulfilling their ambitionsFeature Kwame Onwuachi's grand second act, Travis Lett makes a comeback, and Jeff Watson's new Korean restaurant
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Also of interest...in picture books for grown-upsfeature How About Never—Is Never Good for You?; The Undertaking of Lily Chen; Meanwhile, in San Francisco; The Portlandia Activity Book
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Author of the week: Karen Russell
feature Karen Russell could use a rest.
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The Double Life of Paul de Man by Evelyn Barish
feature Evelyn Barish “has an amazing tale to tell” about the Belgian-born intellectual who enthralled a generation of students and academic colleagues.
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Book of the week: Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt by Michael Lewis
feature Michael Lewis's description of how high-frequency traders use lightning-fast computers to their advantage is “guaranteed to make blood boil.”
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Also of interest...in creative rebellion
feature A Man Called Destruction; Rebel Music; American Fun; The Scarlet Sisters
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Author of the week: Susanna Kaysen
feature For a famous memoirist, Susanna Kaysen is highly ambivalent about sharing details about her life.
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You Must Remember This: Life and Style in Hollywood’s Golden Age by Robert Wagner
feature Robert Wagner “seems to have known anybody who was anybody in Hollywood.”
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Book of the week: Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson’s Lost Pacific Empire by Peter Stark
feature The tale of Astoria’s rise and fall turns out to be “as exciting as anything in American history.”