A Mind of Its Own (2006)

Imagine a person so vain that she actually favors the letters of the alphabet used to spell her name. Or someone so cowed by authority figures he can be instructed to inflict pain on a stranger. In fact, you know this person: It's you. Cordelia Fine, a research associate at Australia's University of Melbourne, claims that over countless generations our brains have turned into hives of petty resentments, pathetic delusions, and labyrinthine self-justifications. (This book could have been titled The Mind Is a Terrible Thing. Period.) While Fine's prose is stilted and her humor mostly falls flat, A Mind of Its Own is provocative enough to make you start questioning your each and every action.