The Mind of the Market cover art

The Mind of the Market

Compassionate Apes, Competitive Humans and Other Tales from Evolutionary Economics

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Mind of the Market

By: Michael Shermer
Narrated by: Michael Shermer
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

How did we evolve from ancient hunter-gatherers to modern consumer-traders? Why are people so emotional and irrational when it comes to money and business decisions?

Best-selling author Michael Shermer believes that evolution and evolutionary psychology provides an answer to both of these questions through the new science of evolutionary economics. Drawing on research from neuroeconomics, Shermer explores what brain scans reveal about bargaining, snap purchases, and how trust is established in business. Utilizing experiments in behavioral economics, Shermer shows why people hang on to losing stocks and failing companies, why business negotiations often disintegrate into emotional tit-for-tat disputes, and why money does not make us happy.

Employing research from complexity theory, Shermer shows how evolution and economics are both examples of a larger and still somewhat mysterious phenomenon of emergence, where one plus one equals three. The Mind of the Market will change the way we think about the economics of everyday life.

©2008 Michael Shermer (P)2008 Michael Shermer
Anthropology Evolution Theory Business Genetics
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Feeling Smart cover art
The Science of Good and Evil cover art
Big Gods cover art
Does Altruism Exist? cover art
The Kindness of Strangers cover art
Copycats and Contrarians cover art
Sex, Murder, and the Meaning of Life cover art
The Rational Animal cover art
Braintrust cover art
The Righteous Mind cover art
Social cover art
The Social Leap cover art
What Should We Be Worried About? cover art
Brain Bugs cover art
The Watchman's Rattle cover art
This View of Life cover art

What listeners say about The Mind of the Market

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Good ideas in a middling package

Like a good meal nearly ruined by a bad ingredient, it is frustrating to see good ideas delivered in a middling package. Shermer's skeptical optimism is firmly rooted in cutting-edge social and natural sciences. Many of his detractors are shocked by his unapologetic defence of free market capitalism, and it does sound occasionally starry-eyed. But he backs up his arguments with good evidence, especially when discussing the economic dimensions of behavioural, neuro- and social psychology.

The problem lies not with the contents, but with the structure of the book. Did the editor sleep on the job? The chapters are loosely connected ruminations on various topics without a strong, overarching narrative. They rehash latest popular science articles, which is fine, but they also recycle his own earlier books. And, by the end, you are left wondering, "That was it?"

Overall, I enjoyed the audiobook, thanks to the author's snappy narration, the abridged format, and the fascinating barrage of popular science trivia. Shermer's position is a strong and important one. But this book does not do it justice. It feels like a competent but forgettable cash grab for the airport lounge market.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!