A review by deathcabforkatey
How Pleasure Works: The New Science of Why We Like What We Like by Paul Bloom

3.0

All-in-all an okay read. Not my favorite of his. I found his overall argument kind of lost throughout the book. He begins by saying "I'm making an argument for essentialism." And then at the end of the book brings it back up again. I found the connection to essentialism throughout the book to be lacking. He needed to point out to the reader when he was making his argument to make it more clear. It's a good, enjoyable read, though. It takes you through the science of human pleasure across the spectrum, to show how psychologists try to explain why we like what we like.

Read if you like: popular nonfiction, psychology, trying to understand weird things like cannibalism and masochism.