How History Gets Things Wrong
The Neuroscience of Our Addiction to Stories
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How History Gets Things Wrong
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Narrated by:
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Mikael Naramore
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By:
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Alex Rosenberg
About this listen
Why we learn the wrong things from narrative history, and how our love for stories is hard-wired.
To understand something, you need to know its history. Right? Wrong, says Alex Rosenberg in How History Gets Things Wrong. Feeling especially well-informed after reading a book of popular history on the best-seller list? Don't. Narrative history is always, always wrong. It not just incomplete or inaccurate but deeply wrong, as wrong as Ptolemaic astronomy. We no longer believe that the earth is the center of the universe. Why do we still believe in historical narrative? Our attachment to history as a vehicle for understanding has a long Darwinian pedigree and a genetic basis. Our love of stories is hard-wired. Neuroscience reveals that human evolution shaped a tool useful for survival into a defective theory of human nature.
Stories historians tell, Rosenberg continues, are not only wrong but harmful. Israel and Palestine, for example, have dueling narratives of dispossession that prevent one side from compromising with the other. Henry Kissinger applied lessons drawn from the Congress of Vienna to American foreign policy with disastrous results. Human evolution improved primate mind reading - the ability to anticipate the behavior of others, whether predators, prey, or cooperators - to get us to the top of the African food chain. Now, however, this hard-wired capacity makes us think we can understand history - what the Kaiser was thinking in 1914, why Hitler declared war on the United States - by uncovering the narratives of what happened and why. In fact, Rosenberg argues, we will only understand history if we don't make it into a story.
©2018 Brilliance Audio, Inc.by Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.Listeners also enjoyed...
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- The Story of Humanity's Greatest Invention
- By: Daniel L. Everett
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 13 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 304
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 255
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Story4 out of 5 stars 255
Mankind has a distinct advantage over other terrestrial species: we talk to one another. But how did we acquire the most advanced form of communication on Earth? Daniel L. Everett, a "bombshell" linguist and "instant folk hero" (Tom Wolfe, Harper's), provides in this sweeping history a comprehensive examination of the evolutionary story of language, from the earliest speaking attempts by hominids to the more than 7,000 languages that exist today.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Hard to endure
- By Michael D. Busch on 09-09-18
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The Ravenous Brain
- How the New Science of Consciousness Explains Our Insatiable Search for Meaning
- By: Daniel Bor
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 78
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 74
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Story4 out of 5 stars 72
Consciousness is our gateway to experience: it enables us to recognize Van Gogh’s starry skies, be enraptured by Beethoven’s Fifth, and stand in awe of a snowcapped mountain. Yet consciousness is subjective, personal, and famously difficult to examine: philosophers have for centuries declared this mental entity so mysterious as to be impenetrable to science. In The Ravenous Brain, neuroscientist Daniel Bor departs sharply from this historical view, and proposes a new model for how consciousness works.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Effectively demystifies consciousness
- By Gary on 11-18-12
By: Daniel Bor
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About Behaviorism
- By: B.F. Skinner
- Narrated by: Matthew Josdal
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 41
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 33
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 31
About Behaviorism is about the controversial philosophy known as behaviorism, written by its leading exponent.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Refreshing and concise
- By Autumn and Sam on 07-30-22
By: B.F. Skinner
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The Landscape of History
- How Historians Map the Past
- By: John Lewis Gaddis
- Narrated by: Jack Chekijian
- Length: 6 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 104
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 93
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 89
What is history, and why should we study it? Is there such a thing as historical truth? Is history a science? One of the most accomplished historians at work today, John Lewis Gaddis, answers these and other questions in this short, witty, and humane book. The Landscape of History provides a searching look at the historian's craft as well as a strong argument for why a historical consciousness should matter to us today.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent Book!
- By Billy on 09-15-18
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Undeniable
- How Biology Confirms Our Intuition That Life Is Designed
- By: Douglas Axe
- Narrated by: Neil Hellegers
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 311
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 273
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 272
Throughout his distinguished and unconventional career, engineer-turned-molecular-biologist Douglas Axe has been asking the questions that much of the scientific community would rather silence. Now, he presents his conclusions in this brave and pioneering book. Axe argues that the key to understanding our origin is the "design intuition" - the innate belief held by all humans that tasks we would need knowledge to accomplish can be accomplished only by someone who has that knowledge.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Seductively Challenge what are consider facts
- By Rafael Vila on 10-08-16
By: Douglas Axe
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The Blank Slate
- The Modern Denial of Human Nature
- By: Steven Pinker
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 22 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,961
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,291
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,255
In The Blank Slate, Steven Pinker, one of the world's leading experts on language and the mind, explores the idea of human nature and its moral, emotional, and political colorings. With characteristic wit, lucidity, and insight, Pinker argues that the dogma that the mind has no innate traits, denies our common humanity and our individual preferences, replaces objective analyses of social problems with feel-good slogans, and distorts our understanding of politics, violence, parenting, and the arts.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Don't bother. Outdated science & poor logic...
- By ejf211 on 03-31-10
By: Steven Pinker
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On Intelligence
- By: Jeff Hawkins, Sandra Blakeslee
- Narrated by: Jeff Hawkins, Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,322
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,099
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,098
Jeff Hawkins, the man who created the PalmPilot, Treo smart phone, and other handheld devices, has reshaped our relationship to computers. Now he stands ready to revolutionize both neuroscience and computing in one stroke, with a new understanding of intelligence itself.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Epiphany
- By James on 03-14-05
By: Jeff Hawkins, and others
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The Spiritual Brain
- A Neuroscientist's Case for the Existence of the Soul
- By: Mario Beauregard, Denyse O'Leary
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 12 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 162
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 89
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Story4 out of 5 stars 88
Does religious experience come from God, or is it just the random firing of neurons in the brain? Drawing on brain research on Carmelite nuns that has attracted major media attention and provocative new research in near-death experiences, The Spiritual Brain proves that genuine, life-changing spiritual events can be documented. The authors make a convincing case for what many in science are loathe to consider: that it is God who creates our spiritual experiences, not the brain.
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3 out of 5 stars
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interesting topic, but frustrating listen
- By Barry T on 08-27-08
By: Mario Beauregard, and others
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Consciousness and the Social Brain
- By: Michael S. A. Graziano
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 231
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 190
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Story4 out of 5 stars 190
What is consciousness and how can a brain, a mere collection of neurons, create it? In Consciousness and the Social Brain, Princeton neuroscientist Michael Graziano lays out an audacious new theory to account for the deepest mystery of them all. In Graziano's theory, the machinery that attributes awareness to others also attributes it to oneself. Damage that machinery and you disrupt your own awareness. Graziano discusses the science, the evidence, the philosophy, and the surprising implications of this new theory.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Cutting edge...
- By Douglas on 08-07-14
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The Big Picture
- On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself
- By: Sean Carroll
- Narrated by: Sean Carroll
- Length: 17 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,129
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,754
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,725
Already internationally acclaimed for his elegant, lucid writing on the most challenging notions in modern physics, Sean Carroll is emerging as one of the greatest humanist thinkers of his generation as he brings his extraordinary intellect to bear not only on the Higgs boson and extra dimensions but now also on our deepest personal questions. Where are we? Who are we? Are our emotions, our beliefs, and our hopes and dreams ultimately meaningless out there in the void?
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5 out of 5 stars
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ABSOLUTE MUST READ!
- By serine on 05-12-16
By: Sean Carroll
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Mind in Motion
- How Action Shapes Thought
- By: Barbara Tversky
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 76
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 65
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Story4 out of 5 stars 65
In Mind in Motion, psychologist Barbara Tversky shows that spatial cognition isn't just a peripheral aspect of thought, but its very foundation, enabling us to draw meaning from our bodies and their actions in the world. Our actions in real space get turned into mental actions on thought, often spouting spontaneously from our bodies as gestures. Spatial thinking underlies creating and using maps, assembling furniture, devising football strategies, designing airports, understanding the flow of people, traffic, water, and ideas.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Physically difficult to listen to
- By Claire Hay on 11-08-19
By: Barbara Tversky
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Autopilot
- The Art & Science of Doing Nothing
- By: Andrew Smart
- Narrated by: Kevin Free
- Length: 3 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 570
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 498
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Story3.5 out of 5 stars 499
Andrew Smart wants you to sit and do nothing much more often - and he has the science to explain why. At every turn we’re pushed to do more, faster, and more efficiently: That drumbeat resounds throughout our wage-slave society. Multitasking is not only a virtue, it’s a necessity. But Andrew Smart argues that slackers may have the last laugh. The latest neuroscience shows that the “culture of effectiveness” is not only ineffective, it can be harmful to your well-being.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Not worth it.
- By B Lee on 04-30-14
By: Andrew Smart
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Philosophy of Mind
- An Audio Guide
- By: Edward Feser
- Narrated by: Andrea Powell
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 100
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 86
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 85
In this lively and entertaining introduction to the philosophy of mind, Edward Feser explores the questions central to the discipline, and relates them not only to the human brain and its capacity for thought, but also to the increasing sophistication of artificial intelligence. This in-depth primer is an account of all the most important and significant attempts that have been made to answer the riddles of consciousness and thought.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Author is a Christian apologist, and it shows
- By David Penn on 08-30-15
By: Edward Feser
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What the Bleep Do We Know
- Discovering the Endless Possibilities for Altering Your Everyday Reality
- By: William Arntz, Betsy Chase, Mark Vicente
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 436
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 320
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Story4 out of 5 stars 323
With the help of 14 leading physicists, scientists, and spiritual thinkers, this book guides listeners on a course from the scientific to the spiritual, and from the universal to the personal. Along the way, it asks such questions as: Are we seeing the world as it really is What is the relationship between our thoughts and our world? How can I create my day every day? What the Bleep answers this question and others through an innovative new approach to self-help and spirituality.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Attacking straw men
- By Henrik on 08-06-11
By: William Arntz, and others
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The Ego Tunnel
- The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self
- By: Thomas Metzinger
- Narrated by: Kevin Pariseau
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 372
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 271
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 274
We're used to thinking about the self as an independent entity, something that we either have or are. In The Ego Tunnel, philosopher Thomas Metzinger claims otherwise: No such thing as a self exists. The conscious self is the content of a model created by our brain - an internal image, but one we cannot experience as an image. Everything we experience is "a virtual self in a virtual reality." But if the self is not "real," why and how did it evolve? How does the brain construct it?
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5 out of 5 stars
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non-specialist literature at its best
- By Esmeralda on 03-17-10
By: Thomas Metzinger
What listeners say about How History Gets Things Wrong
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Log Jammin
- 05-13-19
only read biography & history books for enjoyment
a thorough dismantling of the structure of modern society via puncturing reliance on the theory of mind & mind reading used when recording narrative history if the purpose of studying or reading it is in order to interpret history as a primary tool to build for the present or plan for the future rather than for sheer entertainment and enjoyment.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- ransona
- 03-23-21
Excelente book
these book is quite interesting and the facts and histories presented stressed the why this book is really important to read.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Martin Palecek
- 02-01-23
Brilliant
Although there is at least one theoretical problem attached: how can we have a historical ontology without narrative history? Besides that: strongly recommend for listening!
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Thriving and vibing
- 01-17-21
Misleading title
This book was awful.
The title is inaccurate.
The language is overly academic. The format is tedious. It never comes to any real conclusion.
Irony is railing against narrative history while using a narrative to do it. My eyes rolled so hard into the back of my head, I’m now blinded.
Save your money and your time.
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1 person found this helpful