Book Review: To the Point

To the Point helps readers construct arguments by thinking about their own experiences, reading brief, current essays, and doing writing assignments. Thoughtful readings on fresh but significant topics provide invaluable models for writing arguments. Readings cover areas from cell phones to environmentalism, from human rights to love and marriage, from immigration to terrorism, along with five classic arguments from Plato, Jonathan Swift, Virginia Woolf, Rachel Carson, and Martin Luther King, Jr. A series of paired Pro/Con readings (Part 2) look at contemporary issues show that there is not always one right answer to a problem or question. Anyone interested in learning how to develop good arguments.

Gilbert makes the case that happiness is a subjective feeling and it is therefore not possible to define or compare the levels of happiness between two people. To an outsider, Lori and Reba, the conjoined twins, may look sad and unhappy, but they are in fact happy in their situation. But surely, we can compare our own levels of happiness? Gilbert claims otherwise and claims that our own memories are very inaccurate and therefore, we cannot depend on our memory to compare our happiness. It is possible that people can be mistaken about what they feel and this is evident when Gilbert describes a study in which subjects had misinterpreted their feeling of fear for sexual arousal. People can also experience something without being aware of it, as is evident from people who suffer from blindsight. With feelings such as happiness being as subjective as they are, how can we study them and measure them? Gilbert provides three premises to make the process easier. First, tools are imperfect and we should not expect perfection from measurments. Second, even though an individual's claim about their feelings may be subjective, it is the best type of measurment. Finally, through the law of large numbers, the effects of imperfections can be minimised.

Gilbert also challenges our perception of reality and he argues that our memories and our perceptions are not always what they appear to be. When memories are created, only pieces of it are stored and the brain “fills in” the rest of the detail when it comes time to retrieve those memories. According to Gilbert's argument, “filling in” occurs when our brains uses what we see, feel, think, want and believe, and this is combined with our knowledge to construct our perception of the ...