Bozo Sapiens
Why to Err is Human
By Ellen Kaplan and Michael Kaplan
August 2010
$16.00
304 pp
5.5 x 8.25 in
Paperback
By Ellen Kaplan and Michael Kaplan
"Gourmet reading—rich in ideas, global references and amusing and provocative examples, served with great style."—Kirkus Reviews
Our species, it appears, is hardwired to get things wrong in a staggering variety of ways. Why did recipients of a loan offer accept a higher interest rate when a pretty woman's face was printed on the flyer? Why did one poll on immigration find that the most despised foreigners were from a group that did not exist? Why does giving someone power make them more likely to chew with their mouth open and pick their nose? And why is your sister going out with that biker dude?
In fact, our cognitive, logical, and romantic failures may be a fair price to pay for our extraordinary success as a species—they are the necessary cost of our adaptability. Bozo Sapiens swoops effortlessly across neurochemistry, behavioral economics, and evolutionary biology (among other disciplines) to answer with clarity and wit the questions above—and larger ones about what it means to be human.
Advance Praise and Reviews for Bozo Sapiens:
“Obvious logical errors are always the ones other people make. Michael and Ellen Kaplan put this self-serving idea to rest, brilliantly and wittily exploring the sources of the fallacies that infect the thinking of us all. Bozo Sapiens is a book rich not only in examples, but in wisdom. Every one of its readers will learn from it.”—Denis Dutton, author of The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, and Human Evolution
“Armed with sheaves of anecdotes and research, the Kaplans show just how daft even the most intelligent people can be. The writing is delightful: graceful and packed with allusions, switching easily between hilarity and tragedy.”—New Scientist
“The mother-son co-authors of Chances Are…: Adventures in Probability (2006) turn their considerable authorial skills and wit to human behavior, from our isolated cave-dwelling ancestors to today’s globalized, interconnected world...Gourmet reading—rich in ideas, global references and amusing and provocative examples, served with great style.”—Kirkus Reviews
Reviews for Chances Are: Adventures in Probability:
"A fascinating layman's trek through probability theory, from its roots in dice games in the seventeenth century to its role in modern-day thermodynamics, tackles humanity's innate need to seek order in even the most chaotic phenomena...Both [authors] have backgrounds in the humanities, and their sense of whimsy...allows them to draw stimulating conclusions.”—New Yorker
"[The Kaplans] have hit on a great subject, and they explore it, down through the centuries and across the globe, with an enthusiasm that borders on glee! it's a dizzying, exhilarating ride.”—New York Times
