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Virus of the Mind

The New Science of the Meme

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Virus of the Mind

By: Richard Brodie
Narrated by: Richard Brodie
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Summary

 Virus of the Mind is the first popular work devoted to the science of memetics, a controversial new field that transcends psychology, biology, anthropology, and cognitive science. Memetics is the science of memes, the invisible but very real DNA of human society.

Here, the author carefully builds on the work of scientists Richard Dawkins, Douglas Hofstadter, Daniel Dennett, and others who have become fascinated with memes and their potential impact on our lives. Mind viruses have already infected governments, educational systems, and inner cities, leading to some of the most pervasive and troublesome problems of society today: youth gangs, the welfare cycle, the deterioration of the public schools, and ever growing government bureaucracy.

Richard Brodie weaves together science, ethics, and current events as he raises these and other very disturbing issues relating to memes. Media Studies Personal Development Personal Success Social Sciences Sociology Government
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Critic reviews

“Brodie is infectious, indeed, but hisvirus breeds truth. Those who ingest this book are at great risk of seeing how things really are.”
— Douglas Rushkoff, author of Media Virus! and Nothing Sacred

“This isn’t a book—it’s a mental adventure. Virus of the Mind stimulates, educates, and awakens you to what really happens to the things you see and hear. Buy it and study it.”
— Jeffrey Gitomer, author of The Sales Bible

“The true earmark of genius is taking a complex concept and making it simple (for people like me) to understand and, far more importantly, utilize. If the meme truly is fundamental to behavior (child imitates child, child imitates adult, world leader imitates world leader . . . ), then all of us need to spread memes with much greater intention—and care! Brodie’s humor makes this book a fun, absorbing, educational, and at times controversial read. Pick up this book, then give it to someone you love and you will spread a truly valuable Virus!”
— Kevin Hogan, Psy.D., co-author of Irresistible Attraction and author of The Psychology of Persuasion

“Virus of the Mind can do for memetics what Carl Sagan has done for astronomy and astrophysics with Cosmos.”
— Elan Moritz, Ph.D., director of the Institute for Memetic Research
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Beautifully written book on a fascinating subject-it's like a really good sequel to the selfish gene

Audiobooks don't need to be long to be great value

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A great book for an introduction towards memetics, but not brilliant if it's a thorough look at memetics that you're after

Nice introductory book

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I struggle with what memetics offers beyond other theories of learning like behaviourism, social learning theory and then other things like NLP. Nor am I clear on how memes differ from norms but I guess it’s a catch all framework for anything transmitted between minds. If so, though, I think the book lacks breadth and depth (after all, that’s a hell of a lot of ground to cover!) Just a little research evidence would have strengthened the core arguments and made the whole framework more convincing.
Well read by the author and fun to listen to,

I need more convincing

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