Abstract

Evolutionary Psychology www.epjournal.net – 2009. 7(1): 110-115 ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Book Review The Human Mind Isn’t Perfect – Who Knew? A review of Gary Marcus, Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind. Houghton Mifflin, New York, 2008, 224 pp., US$24.00, ISBN 978-0-618-87964-9 (hardcover) James R. Liddle, Department of Psychology, Florida Atlantic University, Davie, FL 33314 USA. Email: jliddle@fau.edu (corresponding author). Todd K. Shackelford, Department of Psychology, Florida Atlantic University, Davie, FL 33314 USA. Email: tshackel@fau.edu. Gary Marcus is a professor of psychology at New York University and director of the NYU Infant Language Learning Center. In Kluge, Marcus tackles the structure of the human mind, focusing on its many quirks and shortcomings. He refers to the mind as a kluge; that is, “a clumsy or inelegant – yet surprisingly effective – solution to a problem” (p. 2). Furthermore, according to Marcus, the mind is comprised of many kluges, each built by natural selection to solve an adaptive problem. Suggested examples of kluges include memory, belief, and decision making, as well as language and pleasure seeking. Throughout the book, Marcus argues that these features of the mind result from evolution by natural selection, and that by examining these features from an