Book review prepared by Ken Brown, March 2023

We are all readers. Some of us are book aficionados, whether we turn pages, swipe Kindles, or listen to recordings. Others among us read specific documents on laptops, and tablets, and some even claim to get everything they need from their phones! Whether we think of ourselves as readers or not, I suspect we all consume many more words than we realize.

So what? Well, in turn, we tend to pigeonhole ourselves with labels such as mystery lover, historical fiction reader, lover of non-fiction only, or both. Every once in a while, however, a book comes along that doesn’t fit our criteria, and yet is a must read. I think The Expectation Effect by David Robson may be such a book.

This book appealed to me because it is based on solid science, that is, rigorous, peer-reviewed studies* conducted between 2019 and 2022. The results, clearly explained in this book, are reversing many entrenched but mistaken beliefs about the mind-body connection. It also appealed to me because my VRMNC friends are male, largely retired and mostly over seventy.

Before you read on, take a moment to consider this question:

When do middle age and old age begin?

Robson opens his intriguing book by outlining early studies on the mind-body connection, going back over 120 years. It was at first thought that the body controlled the mind. Muscles worked until lactic acid prevented their doing so efficiently. It was also well accepted that some of us had bodies that aged more quickly than others, even given similar lifestyles. It was, in part, your good fortune to have had the right parents.

More recent studies began to show that after controlling for genetics, financial status, and other variables in study participants, humans rise to the level they think they will rise to. In other words, study after study concluded that individual performance, in athletics for example, depends not on lactic acid buildup but rather on where we think our upper performance level exists. Athletes first performed a time trial task to exhaustion.  On a second test, they were able to exceed their exhaustion level by 7% when they believed that they had been given a legal, performance enhancing injection. (The injection, by the way, was an inert substance). The mind, in the first test, made reservation for an unexpected need for additional performance, say the arrival of another sabre-tooth tiger.

Now think back to your answer to the question on middle and old age. Your answer is critical to your future! In studies, those who felt middle age and old age began at younger ages not only performed less well in numerous health tests, but their deaths occurred an average of 7.5 years earlier than those of their peers who were not hung up on their “inability to do stuff”.

This book review is deliberately limited in its scope, giving you just enough to whet your appetite.  I do hope this brief introduction has convinced you to read this book.In its 224 enjoyable pages you’ll learn just how much our attitudes toward so many aspects of our lives determine our future!

Available at
↔ GreaterVictoria Public Library
↔ Online at BookDepository.com (worldwide free shipping)
↔ Online at BookFinder.org

*Study details are all footnoted, should you wish to pursue them.

Prepared by: Ken Brown, March 2023