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19th out of 130 books
—
72 voters
Welcome to Your Brain: Why You Lose Your Car Keys But Never Forget How To Drive and Other Puzzles of Everyday Behavior
You: The Owner's Manual for the brain: an expert, comprehensive, and lively guide that makes sense of all the latest scientific findings about how your brain really works. We are using our brains at practically every moment of our lives, and yet few of us have the first idea how they work. Much of what we think we know comes from folklore: that we only use 10 percent of o
Hardcover, 240 pages
Published
December 23rd 2008
by Bloomsbury USA
(first published March 4th 2008)
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So far, I'm really enjoying this book. It debunks a lot of common brain myths and has good, seemingly accurate information written in a readable, but not condescending, way.
I'm not sure what the genre for these books is. To a degree the old "popular science" applies, with the accent here on popularity. But the formatting, I guess I would call "splash non-fiction." It seems the goal is to break up the experience of page-after-page text, which is probably a good thing, but which leaves this reader feeling a bit like the target in a shell game. Computers/magazines have blazed the way in busting up typesetting columns (and I remember Coupland's "Generation X" as a pion...more
There's a lot of great information here. I haven't read too much about the brain yet but over the last few months have read What Makes Your Brain Happy and Why You Should Do the Opposite, The Optimism Bias: A Tour of the Irrationally Positive Brain and Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error, all of which deal in some way with the brain. Of the four, this was the densest. It doesn't presuppose that the reader has any relevant knowledge, but the authors aren't bashful about using medical t...more
While I find myself increasingly enjoying nonfiction, this book reminded me why it is a genre I don’t read voraciously. There were sections of the book that I found fascinating (such as the sections of how drugs affect the brain and the chapter about the link [or non-link] between vaccines and autism) and I was continually learning throughout the course of the book. Even the chapters focusing on how the brain transmits information and then stores it were interesting.
Unfortunately, this book fal...more
Unfortunately, this book fal...more
When beginning to read this book, I was excited to learn about the basic functions of the brain and answers to many unclear answers. Continuing into the book I realized that the book contains many terms that I'm unclear of currently, by looking in the dictionary, I found out what these scientific terms mean but still had trouble throughout understanding the specific long terms. My favorite parts of the book is the times where they mention something similar to me, for instance, yawning and what i...more
Welcome to Your Brain is a nice overview of the brain and its functions. Although it doesn’t go into much depth, the book is well written and easy to read. Overall, it’s an good introduction to neuroscience for non-scientists.
Two criticisms:
1) The book is replete with bounded side boxes, each a few paragraphs in length, with a short explanation of a topic related to the main text. I found these to be both distracting and annoying as you are forced to repeatedly interrupt the flow of the book wi...more
Two criticisms:
1) The book is replete with bounded side boxes, each a few paragraphs in length, with a short explanation of a topic related to the main text. I found these to be both distracting and annoying as you are forced to repeatedly interrupt the flow of the book wi...more
Previous reviews of this book have ranged from high praise to disdain. This diversity of opinion may reflect a broad spectrum of interests, and background in neuroscience, among the reviewers.
As a career neuroscientist, my view is that the authors have done an excellent job of portraying brain and cognitive function, with a subtle but rigorous depth that professionals can appreciate for their individual areas of interest. For more general readers, there is a clear focus throughout on everyday ex...more
As a career neuroscientist, my view is that the authors have done an excellent job of portraying brain and cognitive function, with a subtle but rigorous depth that professionals can appreciate for their individual areas of interest. For more general readers, there is a clear focus throughout on everyday ex...more
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I absolutely loved this book. It was my first actual book that I read that involved science. I had to read it for my incoming ninth grade biology assignment but the book was packed with a lot of information and in fact taught me a lot. I actually ended up doing my exhibition with the help / evidence of this book (my exhibition was about how sleep affect the brain and memory function). This book is basically an introduction to neurology (study of the brain) and how it works. Not all the answers t...more
While there are some incredibly interesting parts of this book about how your brain works I feel like the book was bogged down with some of the more scientific explanations. I felt at times like I was reading a text book, which is not so enjoyable to me.
This is a fun read for a layperson wanting to know why our brain works the way it does. Written by Sam Wang, an associate professor of neuroscience... and Sandra Aamodt, neuroscience postdoc and editor in chief for Nature Neuroscience, the authors do an outstanding job of making a difficult topic fun and accessible.
After a tour of the brain, its key parts and functions, the book is divided into sections covering the senses, how one's brain changes throughout life, emotions, rational thinking and...more
After a tour of the brain, its key parts and functions, the book is divided into sections covering the senses, how one's brain changes throughout life, emotions, rational thinking and...more
As a popular science book, this struck a good balance. It didn't flinch from using the correct names for parts of the brain, but did a good job of helping a lay person understand what those parts do, in general, and giving you a basic understanding of relatively recent research about how the brain works. I learned a good bit from this, having only had some exposure to these ideas before, and though I didn't retain exactly which part of the brain does what in my long term memory, I felt that it w...more
Story:
It’s a book about your brain. What we know about how it works, what we don’t know, and everything in between. The book helps to dispel a lot of popular myths (we do use more than just 10% of our brain) and discusses several studies on how our brain works with our senses, reasoning, intelligence, and more.
Thoughts:
This was an enjoyable book that almost anyone would find something interesting in. While it seems a bit technical at times, it makes efforts to break everything down and has humor...more
It’s a book about your brain. What we know about how it works, what we don’t know, and everything in between. The book helps to dispel a lot of popular myths (we do use more than just 10% of our brain) and discusses several studies on how our brain works with our senses, reasoning, intelligence, and more.
Thoughts:
This was an enjoyable book that almost anyone would find something interesting in. While it seems a bit technical at times, it makes efforts to break everything down and has humor...more
A good guide on how the brain works. Didn't really go into a lot of detail with the biological terms and such. So if this was the first book I had read on the subject I would of been confused.
I like the myth busting and other extra sections of book, but also hate them. I hate them because of the formatting of this book which has the myth/extra sections take precedent over the actual main body of text. Leading to a lot of disjointed information and a confusion of topics.
I also disliked that the...more
I like the myth busting and other extra sections of book, but also hate them. I hate them because of the formatting of this book which has the myth/extra sections take precedent over the actual main body of text. Leading to a lot of disjointed information and a confusion of topics.
I also disliked that the...more
I picked this up out of personal interest. I love learning more about how our brains work--always have. Most of the reading I do on the subject is technical, so it was wonderful to find a book written in lay language. This made it engaging and fun.
The authors cover all kinds of interesting topics: why some of us are morning people and others are night owls, why some people sneeze when they go out in bright sunlight, the intricacies of language, whether cramming for exams really works, the aging...more
The authors cover all kinds of interesting topics: why some of us are morning people and others are night owls, why some people sneeze when they go out in bright sunlight, the intricacies of language, whether cramming for exams really works, the aging...more
This book doesn't cover any new ground, and it's a bit on the simplistic side fr me, but it's clear and readable.
Take the introduction seriously. This isn't a book to read straight through. Which makes it a poor choice for a library loan, unless you are going into it with specific questions you want answered. Of course, you would only do that if there wasn't this thing called the Internet.
Basically, this is a book written by college professors, who, I sincerely believe, tried to dumb down for their audience. Unfortunately, it comes off as poor writing. It is less interesting than it should be, and compare...more
Basically, this is a book written by college professors, who, I sincerely believe, tried to dumb down for their audience. Unfortunately, it comes off as poor writing. It is less interesting than it should be, and compare...more
I enjoyed this book. It was easy to read, and consisted of many short chapters, each on a different topic so could be read in little bits. I learned several interesting facts about our brains and unlearned a few (a couple of drinks does not kill brain cells but more than four might). Also the authors were not afraid to admit they couldn't fully explain everything, always a good point in reading non-fiction and better than making up your own unproven theories. This was not a comprehensive neurosc...more
Easy to Read and Fun!
I stumbled upon this book in my school library and checked it out. When I got home and started reading it, I couldn't put it down! It had cleverly delivered information that even youths would understand and contained bits of light humor that made it easier to interpret and relate too. It revealed the truths behind brain myths, helpful tips, and fun facts through blurbs. Each chapter was interesting and made so that the reader can skip around as much as they liked. I truly en...more
I stumbled upon this book in my school library and checked it out. When I got home and started reading it, I couldn't put it down! It had cleverly delivered information that even youths would understand and contained bits of light humor that made it easier to interpret and relate too. It revealed the truths behind brain myths, helpful tips, and fun facts through blurbs. Each chapter was interesting and made so that the reader can skip around as much as they liked. I truly en...more
This is was overall an interesting book, but was highly too technical and scientific for me to fully comprehend. It was interesting to learn about what causes some of the decisions we make, but as I am finding with the brain, it is a field of study that is extremely complex and with my lack of interest in the sciences, I find it more and more difficult to follow along with these books. One thing that I will never forget about is the research they had done looking at what are the real causes of h...more
Interesting material, authors dismiss spiritual experiences as seizures, and point to one ridiculous study to debunk free will. However, they also point out that while we have learned much in recent years about the brain we still actually know very little. They explain how some treatments work to cure brain problems but we don't know why they work. The authors also provide some great practical tips about jet lag, cell phones, and diets. I would have benefited from a glossary and a few diagrams o...more
Do you like reading textbooks but wish they were just a little cheekier with more frequent asides and little sidebars of clever information? Then, this book is for you. A lot of what's in here I've heard or read elsewhere and in almost every case, those stories were better told in that elsewhere. Part of the problem, I suspect, is that the authors are attempting to summarize ALL the cool stuff about the brain into an un-intimidating sized book. This inevitably leads to heavy duty reduction of th...more
Nerd Alert. This book is really good if you want to know all the weird and fascinating things about your brain. Which you really should, because it gives you gems like Prozac and Ectasy act on the same are aof the brain. And in fact, some women on prozac have a side effect of having an orgasim every time they yawn. Also, it tells you that you should drink 3 glasses of red wine a day in order to prevent dementia two fold. I don't think I will read the liver book. But you brain book, were awesome....more
Neat book. I learned many things that have now slipped my mind but I remember this cool little disorder: Akinetopsia. It is an extremely rare neuropsychological disorder in which the person cannot perceive motion. It is usually due to some type of brain trauma. With this disorder, people can see someone but cannot see them move to the other side of the room, making it seem as if everyone around you can teleport. It sounds awesome but it's actually pretty dangerous. So yeah, that's what I remembe...more
Although published for adults, this reminded me of the good ya nonfiction I enjoy reading. The great subtitle sets the tone for an exploration of recent knowledge about the human brain. I keep telling friends bits of information I learned in the small boxes throughout. Did you know frequent jet lag can cause brain damage? 25% of the US population sneezes when they see a bright light. And lots of amusing quotes, too. Made me want to do a booktalk.
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I never really had any ooh moments while reading this book. It introduces itself as a bunch of cool information that you didn't know about your brain but there wasn't much stuff that your average college educated person hasn't picked up on their own. I mean are there really people out there who are surprised that you don't, in fact, only use 10% of your brain? That is the sort of revelation given by the author.
Good book to get up to speed quickly on how the ol' noggin works--and doesn't work. It's an intro level book, full of interesting, myth-busting factoids, so it belongs on the coffee table. Easy to read and accessible, mostly because it's got so many metaphors and analogies whenever some "hard" concept is introduced. Chapters are short and sweet, too. It's main strength is on the application of knowledge about the brain in everyday events that we take for granted. Loved the part on theory of mind...more
This book is fun. It give a good layout of how the brain operates. There are a bunch of neat little tricks to try (for example if you are in a crowded place and you are trying to talk on your cell phone, cover the mouth piece when you are listening instead of covering your other ear; it really works, but you'll have to read the book to find out why).
This book provides an excellent overview of current neuroscience (but in a very novice-friendly style). Although eventually I did start to think to myself, "I already know this" and skimmed parts, I am a psychology teacher, so I found it forgivable. If you read a lot about neuroscience, there might not be much "new" in here, but I think this would be a great read for someone just casually interested in the field.
I'm planning on using parts of it with my classes in the future, since the writing i...more
I'm planning on using parts of it with my classes in the future, since the writing i...more
This is a novice-oriented overview of the brain, and as such it's not a very demanding read. But for those (like me) who have recently become fascinated with neuroscience, it is a good overview/introduction. It's quirky, and the authors put themselves in the book just a bit too much, but it's interesting.
Picked this up as a potential read for class. I read through a few chapters, but it didn't really tell me anything new. I guess I should have expected that given that I have a BA in psych. It would probably be more interesting to someone who has little to no knowledge in the area.
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Study of the ...: July/August 2012 Book of the Month: Welcome to Your Brain: Why You Lose Your Car Keys But Never Forget How To Drive and Other Puzzles of Everyday Behavior by Sandra Aamodt | 11 | 48 | Sep 04, 2012 01:40pm | |
| References? | 1 | 4 | Jul 05, 2012 01:55am |
Sep 22, 2012 11:51am