Steven Pinker

how-the-mind-works

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more

source_10558

By signing up, I confirm that I'm over 16. To find out what personal data we collect and how we use it, please visit our <a href="/company/about-us/notices/privacy-policy/">Privacy Policy</a>

Keep an eye out for a confirmation in your inbox

Stories, ideas and giveaways to help you spark young imaginations

source_10972

The latest books, activities and tips to help you grow little readers

source_10975

About us

About Us (Header 4)

john-le-carre-a-legacy-of-spies-960-2.jpg

Margaret Atwood

Richard Osman

Malorie Blackman

George Orwell

marian_keyes_mobile_320x200px.png

Elif Shafak

shonfaye

Authors (Header 3)

Books (Header 2)

Company

Features (Header 1)

Penguin Shop (Header 5)

Useful links

A BBC Radio 4 Philosophy and Ethics Series

Morality in the 21st Century

What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters

Rationality

How to be a better critical thinker

Think with Pinker

An electrifying celebration of science writing

Books do Furnish a Life

The landmark BBC art series in partnership with MoMA

The Way I See It

The Modern Denial of Human Nature

The Blank Slate

The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress

Enlightenment Now

The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century

The Sense of Style

How the Mind Creates Language

The Language Instinct

A History of Violence and Humanity

The Better Angels of Our Nature

The Seven Words You Can't Say on Television

Language as a Window into Human Nature

The Stuff of Thought

How the Mind Works

Why do we laugh? 
What makes memories fade? 
Why do people believe in ghosts? 
 
How the Mind Works explores every aspect of mental life, showing that our minds are not a mystery, but a system of organs of computation designed by natural selection.

Steven Pinker is one of the world's most influential thinkers and writers on the human condition. His popular and highly praised books include The Better Angels of Our Nature, The Sense of Style, The Stuff of Thought, The Blank Slate, How the Mind Works, and The Language Instinct. The recipient of several major awards for his teaching, books, and scientific research, Pinker is Harvard College Professor and Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. He also writes frequently for The New York Times, the Guardian and other publications. He has been named Humanist of the Year, Prospect magazine's "The World's Top 100 Public Intellectuals," Foreign Policy's "100 Global Thinkers," and Time magazine's "The 100 Most Influential People in the World Today."

"Presented with extraordinary lucidity, cogency and panache... Powerful and gripping... To have read [the book] is to have consulted a first draft of the structural plan of the human psyche.. .a glittering tour de force" - Spectator 
 
"Why do memories fade? Why do we lose our tempers? Why do fools fall in love? Pinker's objective in this erudite account is to explore the nature and history of the human mind... He explores computations and evolutions, and then considers how the mind lets us "see, think, feel, interact, and pursue higher callings like art, religion and philosophy" - Sunday Times

How the Mind Works

Select a format:

Retailers:

Summary

About the author

Steven Pinker

More from this Author

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter