The Mind Club: Who Thinks, What Feels and Why it Matters

From dogs to gods, the science of understanding mysterious
minds—including your own.    

Nothing seems more real than the minds of other people. When you consider what your boss is thinking or whether your spouse is happy, you are admitting them into the "mind club." It’s easy to assume other humans can think and feel, but what about a cow, a computer, a corporation? What kinds of mind do they have? Daniel M. Wegner and Kurt Gray are award-winning psychologists who have discovered that minds—while incredibly important—are a matter of perception. Their research opens a trove of new findings, with insights into human behavior that are fascinating, frightening and funny.

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Praise for The Mind Club

“Daniel Wegner’s final book is a masterpiece made ever more precious by his untimely death. Thankfully, his brilliance and wit live on—in these pages, and in his collaborator and protégé, Kurt Gray, who presents their ideas with clarity, depth, and style. The Mind Club is not to be missed.”—Daniel Gilbert, author of Stumbling on Happiness

“One of psychology’s greatest and one of its best young minds—who better to remind us to mind minds.”—Michael Norton, Harvard Business School Professor and coauthor of Happy Money: The Science of Happier Spending
 
“Did he intend to cause harm? Did she feel pain and suffer? When it comes to morality—abortion, animal rights, legal culpability—many of the deepest questions boil down to: Does he or she (or even it) have a properly working mind? In lucid prose, Wegner and Gray explore the profound nature and implications of this question—one that is becoming all the more complex as lines of awareness and intent blur in a world where technology is rapidly advancing.”—David DeSteno, author of the Wall Street Journal Spotlight Bestseller Out of Character: Surprising Truths about the Liar, Cheat, Sinner (and Saint) Lurking in All of Us
 
“An engaging ride through the hidden science of the human mind.  If this book doesn’t change the way you see the world, and yourself, nothing will.”—Jonah Berger, Wharton Professor and Bestselling Author of Contagious and Invisible Influence
 
“Daniel Wegner was one of psychology’s most creative minds, and Kurt Gray was one of his most creative collaborators. The Mind Club describes their biggest idea together using thought-provoking examples, clever writing, and brilliant experiments. Essential reading for anyone who owns a mind and wants to know how to use it!”—Nicholas Epley, Professor of Behavioral Science, University of Chicago Booth School of Business and author of Mindwise
 
“The world lost an intellectual giant when Daniel Wegner passed. Lucky for us, his legendary wit and conversation-stoking discoveries live on in The Mind Club, and indeed in the career and voice of Kurt Gray, one of Daniel’s last doctoral students.The Mind Club draws you in with fun facts that hold grave implications for the meaning of life, loss, and morality.”—Barbara Fredrickson, author of Positivity and Love 2.0
 
“Daniel Wegner was among the world’s cleverest, wittiest, and most beloved social psychologists. The Mind Club is genuinely novel, with brilliantly conceived studies on some of the deepest issues the mind of man can ponder.”—Steven Pinker, author of The Stuff of Thought and How the Mind Works
 
“The Mind Club is science writing at its best: informative, entertaining, and thought-provoking. Who knew that the debate over whether an embryo is human can be explained by the same processes that have you believing your car has it in for you? Gray is a gifted young scientist who shares his insights in an easy, delightfully snarky way. But the best thing about The Mind Club is that it gives us one more chance to perceive Wegner’s mind, in all its glorious wit and intelligence; for those of us who knew him, this is a gift, and for those who didn’t, it’s an opportunity not to be missed.”—Lisa Feldman Barrett, Ph.D., Director of the Interdisciplinary Science Laboratory and University Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Northeastern University and author of How Emotions Are Made 

For media queries please contact:

Christopher Smith
Associate Publicist, Viking and Penguin Books
(212)366-2078 | chsmith@penguinrandomhouse.com