Interdisciplinary Book and Film Reviews

The Malleability of  Memory: A conversation  With Elizabeth Loftus By    Howard Burton Reviewed  By Geoffrey W. Sutton This is an informative short overview of Elizabeth Loftus’ memory research presented as an interview. The informed host asks pertinent questions to which Loftus responds with answers about her memory findings as well as   The personal context of how she got ideas and her need for protection because of death threats. Loftus’ work has had considerable impact on the justice system. Thanks to her laboratory studies and the work of many psychological scientists, we understand that our memories can contain errors brought about by responding to questions or rethinking about past events. In addition, we can create false memories, which appear real and true but are nevertheless false. False memories can be purposely created by someone else or by ourselves. At one point, her work was particularly challenging when some psychotherapists were encouraging patients to recall represse

THINKING,  FAST AND SLOW           By Daniel Kahneman,  Reviewed by  Geoffrey W. Sutton Kahneman’s analysis of thinking in Thinking, Fast and Slow , is close to a metatheory of human nature. In highly readable prose he explains how numerous psychological experiments document the interplay of two ways human brains process and act upon the myriad of stimuli encountered in daily life. Many reviews have extolled the brilliance of the book and its Nobel-prize winning author. My skeptical bias against excessive public endorsements was on high alert until I began to read. My copy has so many notes that it was hard to condense them for this review. I must confess, this was one of the best psychology books I have ever read.  Daniel Kahneman is Eugene Higgins Professor of Psychology Emeritus at Princeton University and Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs Emeritus at Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. His work with Amos Tversky on decisio

A Christmas Carol By Charles Dickens A Review by Geoffrey W. Sutton My copy of A Christmas Carol was a gift on Christmas day, 1963. Two Christmases before I had walked the cold, fog-laden, smog drenched streets of Old London with my dad whilst my mother visited with her family. It was a grey day and a grey week. We took turns warming parts of our body by fireplaces here and there. After five years in the U.S. we had returned home to London on the occasion of my maternal grandmother’s death.  Dickens’ story paints a familiar tale textured by my early memories and enriched today by having watched my favourite rendition of A Christmas Carol ( 1984 ) with my wife on Christmas eve. My interest in reviewing the book is not just for a pleasant walk about the old streets of London but I'm motivated by a sense of appreciation for the poetic and colourful artistry with which Dickens plumbs the hopes and fears of humanity. So, follow