It's here! Browse the 2024 Penguin Christmas gift guide
Did You Spot The Gorilla?

Did You Spot The Gorilla?

Summary

In a recent series of ground-breaking psychological experiments, volunteers were shown a 30-second film of some people playing basketball and told to count the number of passes made with the ball. After just a few seconds, a man dressed as a gorilla slowly walked into frame, beat his chest at the camera, and sauntered off. Unbelievably, almost none of the people watching the film noticed the gorilla. Exactly the same psychological mechanisms that cause people to miss the gorilla also make them miss unexpected but vitally important opportunities in their professional and personal lives. This book outlines the scientific evidence and thinking behind this remarkable new phenomenon, and shows you how you can spot gorillas in your life - and what to do when you see one.

About the author

Richard Wiseman

Richard Wiseman holds Britain’s only Professorship in the Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire. His research has been published in leading academic journals, with one Scientific American columnist labelling him ‘….the most interesting and innovative experimental psychologist in the world today’.
He has written several best-selling popular psychology books that have been translated into over 30 languages, including The Luck Factor, Quirkology, and 59 Seconds. Richard’s YouTube channel has received over 150 million views, and has created more viral videos than anyone else in the UK. He has given keynote addresses to The Royal Society, The Swiss Economic Forum, Google and Amazon.
Finally, Richard was listed in the Independent On Sunday’s top 100 people who make Britain a better place to live, and has acted as a creative consultant to Derren Brown, The MythBusters, and Heston Blumenthal.
Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more