Paul J. Zak

Disappointing. A drop or two of science forms a platform for a pile of rather obvious, even platitudinous, observations about human nature. A shaky crossing of Hume's line between Is and Ought. A few juicy scientific facts, e.g., that oxytocin as an active ingredient in our biochemistry has its own evolutionary predecessors that performed more basic functions. Too much reliance on a reductionist human-lab "Trust Game", (exchanges of trivial cash sums combined with blood-tests) lead the author to form all kinds of conclusions. Life is a lot more complex than this. Daniel Kahneman does this kind of thing much better - or even Steven Levitt in Freakonomics.… (meer)