We don't think of imagination the way that we should. The word is often only associated with children, artists, and daydreamers-viewed as something separate from everyday adult life. However, imagination is an integral part of almost every action and decision that we make. Simply put, imagination is a person's ability to create scenarios in his or her head: this can include everything from planning a grocery list to honing a golf swing-and even to having religious hallucinations. And while imagination has positive connotations, it can also lead to more pernicious outcomes, including decreased productivity and cooperation and, much worse, the continuous reliving of past trauma. The human brain is remarkable in its ability to imagine?to create worlds and situations outside of its reality. We can use our imaginations to make us relaxed or anxious, and the most impressive feat of human imagination may be our ability to use it in creative endeavors. Sitting in a chair we can imagine what the world might be and construct elaborate plans. With such power, we have an obligation to use it for good. People have been fascinated with the machination of the human brain and its ability to imagine for centuries, but until now, there have been no popular science books that are dedicated to imagination. With chapters ranging from hallucination and imaginary friends to how imagination can make you happier, Imagination will help us explore the full potential of our own mind.
Professor Jim Davies's fascinating and highly accessible book, Riveted, reveals the evolutionary underpinnings of why we find things compelling. What we like and don't like is almost always determined by subconscious forces, and when we try to consciously predict our own preferences we're often wrong. In one study of speed dating, people were asked what kinds of partners they found attractive. When the results came back, the participants' answers before the exercise had no correlation with who they actually found attractive in person! We are beginning to understand just how much the brain makes our decisions for us: we are rewarded with a rush of pleasure when we detect patterns, as the brain thinks we've discovered something significant; the mind urges us to linger on the news channel or rubberneck an accident in case it might pick up important survival information; it even pushes us to pick up People magazine in order to find out about changes in the social structure. Drawing on work from philosophy, anthropology, religious studies, psychology, economics, computer science, and biology, Davies offers a comprehensive explanation to show that in spite of the differences between the many things that we find compelling, they have similar effects on our minds and brains.
