Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think by Brian Wansink Reviewed by Cass R. Sunstein & Richard H. Thaler
The New Republic Online
"The idea of 'the survival of the fittest' is one of the most powerful organizing principles in all of science. That simple idea, stated by Herbert Spencer on the basis of Charles Darwin's work and later endorsed by Darwin himself, captures the theory of evolution, the process of natural selection, and a host of associated notions. And yet the phrase can produce confusion. Some people think that survival of the fittest implies that species will be ever improving, and that those still around today will be well-designed machines, smart, efficient, and, well, 'fit.' But Darwin was focused on reproductive success, and nothing in his work suggests that surviving species are particularly smart or, in any global sense, fit...." Read the entire New Republic Online review.