Mindwise

Reviewed by: Jacob

by Nicholas Epley
Published by Alfred A. Knopf
242 Pages (Including index)

The book Mindwise, written by Nicholas Epley, is a non-fiction book that explains how we understand and perceive the minds of others. The author gives a thorough breakdown of the psychological side of our brains and how we interpret our own feelings and actions as well as those of the people around us. He lists habits that humans tend to adopt that are either beneficial, socially harmful, or neutral. Using the practices he explains in the book, readers can become more effective "Mind Readers".At the start of the book, he introduces the idea of a "sixth sense", so to speak that is within every person. This sense allows people to read the minds of others. 

Most of the time, it is simple. For example, the boy ate the hamburger because he was hungry. This is an easy assumption. However, as social scenarios become more complicated, it can be exceedingly difficult to know others' intentions. What the author reveals to us is that we can never truly know the motives of minds. All we can do is guess. In Mindwise, Epley teaches us how to improve our guesses and how to implement them into our daily lives to become more effective friends, neighbors, coworkers, and so forth. This book would be very beneficial to anyone who is looking to improve relationships with those around them and/or predict the actions of others to achieve a goal. For comprehension purposes, children should wait to read this until they are of the age of 13-14.