Editor of Cortex, Fellow Royal Society (Edinburgh) - FRSE, Fellow British Psychological Society - FBPsS

• PART I - WHERE DO TALL TALES ABOUT THE MIND AND THE BRAIN COME FROM? ; Introduction - the myth of 10% and other tall tales about the mind and the brain ; 1. Cognitive factors underlying paranormal beliefs and experiences ; 2. Critically thinking about paranormal belief ; 3. The magic in the brain; how conjuring works to deceive our minds ; PART II - TALL TALES ON MEMORY AND LEARNING ; 4. The legend of the magical number seven ; 5. Setting the record (or video camera) straight on memory: the video camera model of memory and other memory myths ; 6. The myth of the incredible eyewitness ; 7. We've got the whole child witness thing figured out, or have we? ; PART III - TALL TALES ON INTELLIGENCE ; 8. Is bigger really better? The search for brain size and intelligence in the 21st century ; 9. Biology and intelligence: the race/IQ controversy ; 10. The refined Mozart effect: it's time to face the music ; 11. The powers and perils of intuition ; 12. Creative thinking: the mystery myth ; PART IV - TALL TALES ON LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION ; 13. The more, the merrier: facts and beliefs about the bilingual mind ; 14. The Merry Vibes of Wintzer: the tale of foreign accent syndrome ; 15. Talking with the dead, communicating with the future and other myths created by cold reading ; 16. Graphology - a total write-off ; 17. The truth about deception ; PART V - TALL TALES ON THE BRAIN ; 18. The dual-brain myth ; 19. The neurology of the weird: brain states and anamalous experience ; 20. The myth of the clonable human brain ; 21. Out on a limb: neglect and confabulation in the study of aplasic phantoms ; 22. Imagery and blindness ; 23. Something wicked this way comes: causes and interpretations of sleep paralysis ; PART VI - TALL TALES ON THE MIND ; 24. The power of the full moon. Running on empty? ; 25. Ouija, dowsing, and other seductions of ideomotor action ; 26. Inducing out-of-body experiences ; 27. Can mind conquer cancer? ; 28. The elusive search for a "gay gene" ; 29. To sleep, perchance to REM? The rediscovered role of emotion and meaning in dreams

...this book is so well written and balanced that it will make for enriching and entertaining reading for readers at any level. It manages to have a scientific foundation, yet presents clinically intriguing and practical, relevant cases. It is refreshing to see a group of authors put together a critical analysis of the rampant misinformation that thrives in popular culture.