The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist's Quest for What Makes Us Human

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The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist's Quest for What Makes Us Human

4.09 of 5 stars 4.09 · rating details · 2,184 ratings · 189 reviews

V. S. Ramachandran is at the forefront of his field-so much so that Richard Dawkins dubbed him the "Marco Polo of neuroscience." Now, in a major new work, Ramachandran sets his sights on the mystery of human uniqueness. Taking us to the frontiers of neurology, he reveals what baffling and extreme case studies can teach us about normal brain function and how it evolved. Syn...more

Hardcover, 357 pages

Published January 17th 2011 by W. W. Norton & Company (first published January 1st 2011)

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Feb 21, 2011 !Tæmbuŝu marked it as owned-not-read

Shelves: unit-p-box-6, ebook-available

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Reviewed by The Independent, The Guardian

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Jan 01, 2013 Catherine rated it 5 of 5 stars

Brilliant books as expected from the prestigious reviews seen on its cover. It's a book about various aspects of human brain functions, explained in lay language, but without compromising the quality of the information.

A case study illustrates the issue at the start of each chapter, then the chapter goes into explaining what is known about the issue - but the author is a researcher and a clinician and this book goes far beyond just describing the state of the art. Many new hypotheses are presen...more

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Feb 14, 2013 Ioannis Savvas rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: Νευροεπιστήμες

Ο V.S. Ramachandran είναι γνωστός νευροεπιστήμονας με πλούσιο συγγραφικό έργο. Στο τελευταίο του βιβλίο ασχολείται κυρίως με τη φύση της συνείδησης και του «εαυτού». Δίνει ιδιαίτερη έμφαση στου νευρώνες-καθρέφτες (mirror neurons) και στην «εμπάθεια» (empathy), το αίσθημα του «συμπάσχειν», μία έννοια που είναι της μόδας τα τελευταία χρόνια και το σχολιάζει εκτενώς και με αρκετό σκεπτικισμό ο Stephen Pinker στο The Better Angels of Our Nature.

Επίσης προτείνει μια ολοκληρωμένη θεωρία για την εξέλιξ...more

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Feb 27, 2013 Mike Owens rated it 4 of 5 stars

Ramachandran is uniquely qualified to tackle this very difficult and intricate subject. He is Distinguished Professor in the Psychology Department and Neurosciences Program at U. Cal., San Diego. He has a previous book, Phantoms in the Brain. As the author points out, much of what we know about the human brain has been learned by what is disrupted after traumatic insult to that organ, such as vascular accidents or trauma. Only the development of more sophisticated imaging technology have we begu...more

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Jan 22, 2013 David rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: biology, evolution, medicine, science

This is a brilliant book by a first-rate scientist. Ramachandran has personally made some amazing discoveries in the field of neuroscience. His writing is lucid, and his enthusiastic, personable style makes this an informative, as well as a very entertaining book.

Ramachandran's approach is to investigate patients who have had varying degrees and types of brain defects or injuries. These patients acquire abilities or handicaps that Ramachandran interprets and analyzes, in the hope of casting ligh...more

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Jan 06, 2013 Ron Henderson rated it 4 of 5 stars

This fascinating book covers some of the most interesting current research on the human brain, including mirror neurons that seem to allow humans far more empathy than other animals, so much so that other parts of the brain have to suppress the signal to keep us from feeling the pain of another directly.

He is the first scientist I've heard to hint at something that has been germinating in my own mind about evolution. It's the idea the humans have by now essentially evolved beyond evolution. In...more

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May 21, 2012 Ms.pegasus rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone interested in how the human mind works; anyone contemplating a science career

Recommended to Ms.pegasus by: Kevin's list on Goodreads

Shelves: neuroscience, nonfiction

I was prepared to dislike this book. Ramachandran goes to great length to emphacize the uniqueness that separates humans from animals – an argument often misappropriated by those who countenance the inhumane treatment of animals. He also seeks explanations in evolutionary biology. I tend to associate this with the popular oversimplification that we perceive symmetrical faces as attractive because our brains see symmetry as a marker for healthiness and therefore a better gene pool for offspring....more I was prepared to dislike this book. Ramachandran goes to great length to emphacize the uniqueness that separates humans from animals – an argument often misappropriated by those who countenance the inhumane treatment of animals. He also seeks explanations in evolutionary biology. I tend to associate this with the popular oversimplification that we perceive symmetrical faces as attractive because our brains see symmetry as a marker for healthiness and therefore a better gene pool for offspring. In addition, Ramachandran deluges the reader with a chapter on neuroanatomy that is a dense atlas of Latin terms. Fortunately, the author's personality rebuffs these doubts.

For one thing, he has a slyly geeky sense of humor. He relates being awakened in the wee hours of the morning by a lawyer who wants him to testify in a lawsuit. The client supposedly is suffering from Capgras Syndrome and cannot recognize his wife. Ramachandran quips that the man is actually reaping a benefit. She will always be a novelty to him, and that should enhance her sexual attraction! He apologizes to the reader for a joke that might be construed as in bad taste – but then goes on to marshal a final volley of scientific data!

On the serious side, Ramachandran opens up a view of true scientific inquiry. In his discussion of synesthesia, he iterates over 10 tests that are performed to ascertain not only the reality of the phenomenon, but its various aspects. The prolific questions that spring to his mind, as well as his patience in devising tests, are truly astonishing. Moving from the “what,” he then forms some hypotheses about “how.” This is where the neuroscience begins. An extensive break-down of the components of vision (color, object identification, perception of motion, affective associations, distance – he alludes to over 30 different pathways) are integrated by the brain. The theory outlines a possible cross-wiring or leakage between the channels of color and number recognition which are located next to each other in the brain. Ramachandran then indulges in some philosophical speculation. There is some evidence of a link between synesthesia and creativity. Part of the art of writing is the ability to conjure up unusual and compelling metaphors. Perhaps all of us are to some degree synesthetes in the sense that we have the capacity to understand and appreciate metaphor as well as broader aesthetic principles. This is part of the “why” section of his inquiry. Later in the book, he returns to the theme of connections between neurological evidence and the development of culture.

The book covers Phantom Limb syndrome of amputees, Synesthesia, Autism, Language and Aesthetics. Along the way, it describes mirror neurons, brain circuits that entail constant feedback loops and complex integration of information. Evolution, as well, is not oversimplified in Ramachandran's world. Nature is a master at recycling old parts to perform new functions. As an example, Ramachandran describes how the multi-hinged jaw of reptiles was transformed into components of the ear that enable us to hear air-born sound rather than ground-transmitted vibrations.

This is a difficult book that does not stint on the science. I only began to appreciate how much Ramachandran had simplified when I started looking up some of the afflictions on the internet. I found the chapters on Language and Aesthetics overly speculative, and the writing lacking in literary flair. What Ramachandran does offer is an honest approach to the interrogations of science – interrogations that involve not just questions, but imagination.(less)

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Mar 08, 2012 Deb rated it 4 of 5 stars

*This is your brain on evolution*

In _The Tell-Tale Brain_, V.S. Ramachandran impressively tells the tale of the evolution of the human brain. In his own words:
"This book is my modest contribution to the grand attempt to crack the code of the human brain, with its myriad connections and modules that make it infinitely more enigmatic that any Enigma machine." (p. xv)

In his attempt to illuminate the brain-mind-body connection, he tackles such mind-boggling questions as:
*How do we perceive the worl...more *This is your brain on evolution*

In _The Tell-Tale Brain_, V.S. Ramachandran impressively tells the tale of the evolution of the human brain. In his own words:
"This book is my modest contribution to the grand attempt to crack the code of the human brain, with its myriad connections and modules that make it infinitely more enigmatic that any Enigma machine." (p. xv)

In his attempt to illuminate the brain-mind-body connection, he tackles such mind-boggling questions as:
*How do we perceive the world?
*What is the so-called mind-body connection?
*What determines your sexual identity?
*What is consciousness?
*What goes wrong in autism?
*How can we account for all of those mysterious faculties that are so quintessentially human, such as art, language, metaphor, creativity, self-awareness, and even religious sensibilities? (p. xi)

A common thread to the answers to all of these question is the premise that many of the traits that make us uniquely human--and not "just" another series of primate--have evolved through the novel development of brain structures that had previously evolved for other functions. Key players shaping the course of our evolutionary and cultural development are plasticity and mirror neurons, which have allowed for the brain of an ape "to evolve such a godlike array of mental abilities." (p. xi)

In the first part of the book, Ramachandran helps us understand the unique inner workings of the "normal" brain by presenting cases of abnormal brain wiring: here, patients with phantoms limbs, synesthesia, and autism provide clues to brain plasticity, connectivity, and mirror neurons, respectively. He provides a fascinating exploration of mirror neurons--"the neurons the shaped civilization"--and illuminates how they underly many of our uniquely human abilities, including empathy and language. Next, he looks at "the artful brain" and proposes his nine laws of aesthetics: grouping, peak shift, contrast, isolation, peekaboo, abhorrence of coincidences, orderliness, symmetry, and metaphor. In the final part of the book, he tackles the nature of self-awareness, and defines the seven factors necessary for a cohesive sense of self--unity continuity, embodiment, privacy, social embedding, free will and self awareness--and explores cases of patients who have disturbances in various aspects of their sense of self.

In the process of giving us a tour of the brain, Ramachandran also provides peeks into his own thought processes. As other reviewers have noted, at times his comments can be a bit off-color and politically incorrect, and his content can be free-flowing and speculative. But, if you have an open mind and a sense of humor, these reveals can add to the richness and color of the book. He is only human after all.

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Feb 05, 2012 Jafar rated it 4 of 5 stars

This would have been more novel if I hadn’t read Ramachandran’s other books. He repeats some of his prior works and theories in this book, but in a new light and with a different purpose. The intention here is not just explaining how the brain works, but how it makes us human: language, aesthetics, consciousness, the idea of a self, free will, etc. The introduction to the book is great. He presents a superb case that we’re not just apes, as it has become fashionable to say among the scientists a...more

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Oct 01, 2011 Libin Thomas rated it 3 of 5 stars

Not as good a read as his first book, the first book changed my entire outlook to the neurosciences. This looks like a poor and in some way a rather premature attempt to live up to the standard set by Phantoms. The various patients he discusses are startling yet interesting in a very inhuman kind of way.
I was taken aback by one by his statements in the book when he "hopes to see such a patient one day" with a certain neurological disorder, I know he may not have meant it that way but it came ou...more

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Sep 21, 2011 Derek Davis rated it 4 of 5 stars

A thoroughly engaging, enlivening, even entrancing study of neurological research by a leader in the field--with a couple peculiar omissions and fixations.

Ramachandran's work has had both theoretical and practical ramifications in neuroscience. His intuitive experiments in working with brain-damaged patients who suffer from a wide variety of often peculiar ailments have led to both a deeper understanding of brain function and clinical relief from such ailments as "phantom pain" from missing limb...more A thoroughly engaging, enlivening, even entrancing study of neurological research by a leader in the field--with a couple peculiar omissions and fixations.

Ramachandran's work has had both theoretical and practical ramifications in neuroscience. His intuitive experiments in working with brain-damaged patients who suffer from a wide variety of often peculiar ailments have led to both a deeper understanding of brain function and clinical relief from such ailments as "phantom pain" from missing limbs (his use of mirrors for phantom-pain treatment even appeared in an episode of "House").

His written approach is direct, personal and appealing. Some have complained of his gratuitous and sometimes raucous sense of humor, but for anyone who has read Indian literature in English, this is simply how most Indian writers approach their work. Live with it if (like me) you enjoy such stuff, or otherwise ignore it and charge ahead to the facts and speculations.

Two, to me, broad caveats, though. First, Ramachandran is strangely obsessed with proving that the human brain, in its construction and interconnections, makes people demonstrably alone in the line of animal evolution. His recurring mantra about the "unique" aspect of human cognition seems, first of all, unnecessary and intrusive and, second, makes broad assumptions about animal intelligence and function that, so far as I know, have never been tested. I don't get the feeling that the man has ever had a pet or carefully examined animal behavior. And birds' brains, as one example, work very differently from hominids'.

Second, though he spends a great deal of time discussng "mirror neurons" (motor areas of the brain which activate while watching someone else perform an action), he gives no more than 4 pages to memory, and that 3/4 of the way through. True, this is not a book about memory, but if you're talking about 'intention" and triggered imitation, how can you totally ignore the existence or function of memory?

Still, this is a remarkable piece of work: open, accepting, willing to look at almost all aspects of physical and biological science that can impinge on his area of specialization. There's a heck of a lot to think about here, especially in his conjectures about the development/function of aesthetics (in visual art) and—his special concern—the origins of the internal idea of "self." He's especially good at carefully explaining what he's describing, rather than tossing blind terms around. A fine piece of work.

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Apr 10, 2011 Claire rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction

Ramachandran shares his experiments, studies, and theories on bizarre, disturbing, and amazing neurological conditions to figure out what makes a person human. By studying people with damage to their brains, it reveals a lot about how healthy brains function.

And there are a lot of strange neurological disorders out there. A person with Capgras syndrome is convinced close relatives are imposters. Cotard syndrome: the patient believes they are dead. Blindsight: the patient can't see but can accura...more Ramachandran shares his experiments, studies, and theories on bizarre, disturbing, and amazing neurological conditions to figure out what makes a person human. By studying people with damage to their brains, it reveals a lot about how healthy brains function.

And there are a lot of strange neurological disorders out there. A person with Capgras syndrome is convinced close relatives are imposters. Cotard syndrome: the patient believes they are dead. Blindsight: the patient can't see but can accurately point things out though they feel they are guessing (Visual information travels on 2 pathways in the brain and it seems only one pathway is damaged in these patients.).

I preferred the less theoretical chapters in which he describes experiments he (and others) performed to learn more about various conditions and how to resolve them. The mirror box is an elegant, simple solution for helping patients with certain kinds of paralysis or phantom limb pain.

Signals in the brain getting mixed up or cut off is a recurring probable cause of many perceptual and sensory changes. The discussions on autism and synesthesia are fascinating.

Synesthetes may see numbers or sound as colored, or taste shapes, or feel certain emotions when they touch certain textures. There's quite a variety of ways synesthesia can manifest.

When he gets into more theoretical musings about what makes humans unique in the animal kingdom, I don't always agree with his views. Nonetheless they did make me think.

The glossary was quite good (it's what peaked my interest to read the book in the first place). Also, do check out the notes section. It is not the typical series of bibliographic references but rather actual notes that explain things in further detail: for the most part, well worth the time.

I would have preferred less acronyms since often several would crop up at once making them harder to keep track of. Aside from that though, the book was quite enjoyable. He's good at explaining concepts without getting overly technical, and he has a sense of humor.

Well worth a read if you're interested in learning more about how the brain works, what constitutes our sense of self, creativity, and humanity.(less)

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Feb 23, 2011 Mirek Kukla rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-and-philosophy

It's unclear that Ramachandran ever completes his 'quest for what makes us human', though he certainly develops some profound insight along the way. His account is not without its flaws, but when all is said and done, this is a journey worth taking.

The best parts of 'The Tell-Tale Brain' are, without a doubt, the numerous crazy neurological case studies Ramachandran explores and explains. You'll learn about Apotemnophilia, a condition where a patient feels as if a body part doesn't belong, and d...more It's unclear that Ramachandran ever completes his 'quest for what makes us human', though he certainly develops some profound insight along the way. His account is not without its flaws, but when all is said and done, this is a journey worth taking.

The best parts of 'The Tell-Tale Brain' are, without a doubt, the numerous crazy neurological case studies Ramachandran explores and explains. You'll learn about Apotemnophilia, a condition where a patient feels as if a body part doesn't belong, and desires its amputation; Capgras syndrome, where a person is convinced that close relatives are imposters; synesthesia, where people quite literally 'see' colors in numbers of 'taste' certain shapes - among others.

However, interesting as these conditions are in and of themselves, what is truly captivating is the manner in which Ramachandran relates them to the brain, and uses them to shed light on the role of the brain in defining who we are. It's important to note that, while some of the conclusions are very speculative in nature, most of the presented findings are supported by sound scientific investigation.

That said, the speculation does get too heavy towards the end of the book. For instance, the author ponders about the evolution of language, and presents, at length, his theory of the 'universal laws of beauty'. While some of these musings are insightful, they feel misplaced, and detract from the otherwise objective findings that constitute the rest of the book.

The Tell-Tale Brain is by no means a perfect book. It sometimes loses focus, and on occasion struggles with balancing the conflicting demands of technical detail and readability. Nonetheless, these issues to little to detract from the fascinating and provocative core of the work, which consists of Ramachandran's extraordinary neurological case studies and his provocative and absolutely convincing analysis of them. You'll never think of your brain the same way again, and on this account, 'Tell-Tale Brain' is absolutely worth a read.(less)

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Apr 21, 2012 Bob Nichols rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ramachandran's description of the physical operation of the brain and its various maladies is probably all good stuff, but his cheerleading for human separateness and his writing about the conscious brain as if that were "the" brain gets in the way with what could be a good book.

The author's theme is human uniqueness. As all species are unique, Ramachandran is really talking about human exceptionalism in life's grand scheme. Humans are special in ways that other life forms are not. He does this...more Ramachandran's description of the physical operation of the brain and its various maladies is probably all good stuff, but his cheerleading for human separateness and his writing about the conscious brain as if that were "the" brain gets in the way with what could be a good book.

The author's theme is human uniqueness. As all species are unique, Ramachandran is really talking about human exceptionalism in life's grand scheme. Humans are special in ways that other life forms are not. He does this by emphasizing our obvious cognitive ability to transcend the here and now and to do all of the special things our conscious brain can do. In a matter of fact sort of way, he sets up his argument for human specialness by identifying those unique human capacities that other life forms don't have. That seems like an unfair way to argue. He says an eagle can't read newsprint. That's Ramachandran's standard, but why is that a higher standard than an eagle flying and reading the landscape below for prey unaided by machines? Once you get into implied standards of what's higher and lower, you evaluate by some standard. By the standard of evolutionary success, cockroaches have been around a long time and might long outlive us and have the last laugh (even though as Ramachandran points out only humans can laugh).

The book also almost screams out, "where is Freud in all of this?" Not specifically Freud, but the unconscious and, for that matter, all of those evolutionary drives that direct our brain in ways that we are, at most, only faintly aware. Can we really understand the brain without touching on these deeper undercurrents? On that side of things, Ramachandran is almost silent. For him, even though he says he comes at his topic from an evolutionary development perspective, the brain just operates, without energy, without fears and passions. Consciousness is our unique trait relative to other life, but how does this give us an accurate picture of the brain in the absence of those evolutionary motivations that make us tick and make our brains operate the way they do. Sure, we can decipher the world of quantum physics with our sophisticated capacity for abstract thought but that same brain can use such knowledge to destroy life through nuclear warfare. Does the human brain operate on its own, as a human head with no body, or does that brain reflect and serve its ancient heritage of fear and hatred, of we-versus-they tribalism, of desire for domination and rank? If cognitive neuroscience can't go here, it should at least acknowledge its limitation as opposed to claiming the field.

Clearly, we can agree with Ramachandran that we are "no mere ape," but have we really left most of the ape behind? Intentionally or not, he articulates a view that we are the charioteers in charge of our animal nature, but there's a substantial body of evidence that has it the other way around. In that view, our uniqueness is not our consciousness per se, but in a consciousness that expresses and serves our animal impulses, for good or bad. This is where a Darwin and Demasio perspective about our continuity with other life forms might give us a fuller picture of who we are and what our brains are about. (less)

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Jun 26, 2011 Marissa Morrison rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

This isn't just a book about the brain. It's also about the scientific process and the joy of discovery. In his preface, Ramachandran explains how axolotls drew him toward science at an early age (this grabbed my attention when I read it, since I'd seen axolotls myself at a museum that morning), and in the epilogue he slams creationists for closing off scientific inquiry. In between, he presents many different aspects of his research, guiding the reader through the scientific process as he follo...more

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Dec 28, 2011 Robert Fischer rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: neuroscience-cognitive-psych, math-science

This is an excellent book. It feels like sitting around with your favorite neuroscience professor and having him just go off on his own ideas about the nature of the self. Unlike the more hubris-ridden books like Consciousness Explained, this book has the restraint of a practitioner and does not feel compelled to offer the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything. Instead, it simply explores the nooks and crannies of neuroscientific knowledge. This is primarily done through disorders of the...more This is an excellent book. It feels like sitting around with your favorite neuroscience professor and having him just go off on his own ideas about the nature of the self. Unlike the more hubris-ridden books like Consciousness Explained, this book has the restraint of a practitioner and does not feel compelled to offer the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything. Instead, it simply explores the nooks and crannies of neuroscientific knowledge. This is primarily done through disorders of the brain, which maintains a kind of personal interest in these disorders that can otherwise become very dry (e.g. The Compass of Pleasure). All in all, the book is a superb exploration of cognitive neuroscience, and basically works like an advertisement to come get a Ph.D in the field.

There are three caveats I have to my otherwise stellar recommendation of this book, and together I think they warrant one less star than the full five stars...although just barely.

First, I feel as though Ramachandran is either targeting a more sophisticated rather than popular audience, or gives his popular audience a bit too much credit. A lot of the information seemed predicated on a basic understanding of cognitive neuroscience, and so I would suggest a book like Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain as a prelude to this book.

Second, I'd like a footnote on the points where Ramachandran asserts things are uniquely human. He quips at one point that negative predictions in science aren't generally a good idea, and a claim of uniqueness is fundamentally a negative prediction ("X is unique to humans." = "I predict no animal can be found with quality X.") Given our increasing appreciation for animal's cognitive abilities (especially dolphin language and social dogs, not to mention moralizing apes), the claim that anything is unique to humans seems to warrant at least a footnote in defense of the claim, and an acknowledgement of where and how animals came close to these abilities.

Finally, either the book could use slightly more editing, or the editor(s) decided that the book was likely to be read piecemeal, because Ramachandran explains things multiple times and uses the same illustration multiple times—sometimes almost verbatim. While this works well in conversation, it's really disruptive to encounter it in the flow of an otherwise swift and engrossing book.

Don't let these caveats scare you away, though. This is an excellent book which should go onto the reading list of anyone who keeps up to date in cognitive science.(less)

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Aug 19, 2012 Nicholas rated it 2 of 5 stars

I don't really know all that much about neuroscience or the field in general, so please take this review with a grain of salt.

I have to say that I was pretty disappointed by The Tell-Tale Brain, which billed itself to be an overview tour of the brain and how it is used to delineate our sense of self. This is primarily achieved by examining brain-based maladies with the thinking that really outlandish and odd neurological conditions can highlight what different parts of the brain are responsible...more

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Neuro Reporter You are not the only person who has found The Tell-Tale Brain disappointing. You may want to read the recent review of The Tell-Tale Brain by Peter Br...more
Sep 13, 2012 10:08am

Nicholas Whew, good. I thought I was just being ignorant of the field. Yeah, I noticed the lack of citations and notes for the first chapter as well and I just...more
Sep 15, 2012 07:14am

Jan 29, 2011 JayLando rated it 4 of 5 stars

A really interesting read that ask a lot of questions and does its best to answer them. It lays out information in a clear and understandable mix of readability and scientific/clinical jargon.

There is a lot about mirror-neurons and how they influence so much and the brain and thus, so much of what makes us human.

I like that in his prose he takes such care to explain not just his theory but the methodology to get there. The tone is very light and casual but fitting the text. It is more anecdotal...more

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Mar 19, 2012 Rachael rated it 4 of 5 stars

Highly enjoyable account of a variety of topics related to the brain, proposed explanation for synethesia, autism, apraxia and a number of other conditions. The first half of the book is focused on research done by Ramachandran and what these reveal about how our brains work, particularly focusing on the role of mirror neurons and the slippery nature of modules in the brain. The second half is a more playful and speculative account of the evolution of language, art and consciousness. Though I am...more

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Jan 27, 2013 Oscar rated it 5 of 5 stars

V. S. Ramachandran’s book provides an enlightening and philosophical discussion regarding certain aspects regarding the human brain. He often takes a philosophical approach regarding what makes us human, that is, in regards of what the human brain does, such as develop a sense of self, structure language, enjoy art, among other things that other species are unable to do. Such philosophical discussion, however, serve as a means for the book to delve into discussions regarding how science has expl...more

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Nov 14, 2011 Reksa Vali rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

V.S Ramachandran di juluki prof dawkins sebagai marcopolo of the neuroscience. pertama kenal beberapa bulan lalu di salah satu episode tayangan TED talks. beliau berbicara mengenai brain disorder, dan mental illness. penjelasan beliau mengenai berbagai syndrom neurosis membuka pengetahuan baru mengenai aktifitas otak yang ternyata berkorelasi dengan hal yang sebelumnya saya anggap bersifat psikis semata dalam kajian psikoanalis.

Sub judul dari buku ini : Why should "A Neuroscientist's Quest for W...more V.S Ramachandran di juluki prof dawkins sebagai marcopolo of the neuroscience. pertama kenal beberapa bulan lalu di salah satu episode tayangan TED talks. beliau berbicara mengenai brain disorder, dan mental illness. penjelasan beliau mengenai berbagai syndrom neurosis membuka pengetahuan baru mengenai aktifitas otak yang ternyata berkorelasi dengan hal yang sebelumnya saya anggap bersifat psikis semata dalam kajian psikoanalis.

Sub judul dari buku ini : Why should "A Neuroscientist's Quest for What Makes Us Human" adalah sebuah pertanyaan yang sangat menarik minat saya terhadap buku ini di banding buku beliau yang lain. lagipula di sebutkan dalam sebuah review yang saya baca, buku ini berdaasrkan analisa ulang dari buku nya yang lama: phanthoms in brain, jadi saya pikir langsung membaca buku ini tidak menjadi masalah untuk memahami penelitian dan ide ide Ramachandran.

jawaban nya sangat jelas. brain! otak adalah bagian yang sangat esensial. bagaimana gumpalan seberat kurang lebih 1.3 kg ini mampu menyimpan informasi yang luar biasa banyak. mengolah mana yang krusial dan mengabaikan mana yang tidak. otak mampu mengkoordinasi organ2 tubuh bahkan beberapa tanpa kita sadari. otak juga mampu memahami aktifitas mikroba hingga konsep semesta, mengukur waktu, hari, hingga idea keabadian.

dalam buku ini, beliau juga menelusuri dan mengkomparasi bagaimana otak manusia berevolusi hingga mencapai bentuknya yg sekarang. atau "what makes us human".

Ramachandran kemudian saya ketahui adalah salah satu dari banyak filsuf yang menonjol seperti Dan dennet misalnya yang percaya bahwa neurosains akan membantu kita memahami seluk beluk aktifitas otak di mulai dari mekanisme dan fungsi bagian bagian hingga output berupa perilaku dan kesadaran. namun sepanjang buku ini tak ada penjelasan mengenai korelasi atau adanya bagian otak yang spesifik berkaitan dengan bagaimana seorang individu identik dari yang lain, atau bagaimana kesadaran membentuk sukap volunteer dalam diri manusia. dengan kata lain, kajian dalam buku ini masih general, dan psikoanalis masih unggul dalam memahami karakteristik sesorang karena mengkaji mengenai experience, pengalaman masa kecil dll dari sudut pandang individu per individu.

pertanyaan dari sub-judul itu. IMO, di jawab kurang memuaskan. kehidupan, sejarah dan evolusi peradaban yang terbentuk, keragaman bahasa dan tingkah laku hingga karakteristik one-sight-person dalam individu yang memiliki "brain" yang kaya akan cerita. what makes WE human?

tapi, di sisi lain, buku ini membuka perspektif menarik. bagaimana proses menuju jawaban itu sedang tumbuh dan akan terus tumbuh. secara general, evolusi dari -apehood menuju -animals speakings, di jelaskan dengan sangat memukau. bagaimana otak merespon karya seni dan kreativitas juga salah satu hal menarik yang bisa di dapat dalam buku ini. "The Tell-Tale Brain", adalah karya yang memikat dan berharga.(less)

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Jan 05, 2013 Steve Van Slyke rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: kindle, science

After reading How We Decide I thought I might enjoy another book about neuroscience and how the brain works. I didn't enjoy this book quite as much but it's still a worthwhile and important work on this topic. And I didn't agree with other critics who felt the author was attempting to separate humans from other hominoids so that we could justify our ill treatment of them. He says: “Today it is impossible to seriously refute this point: We are anatomically, neurologically, genetically, physiologi...more After reading How We Decide I thought I might enjoy another book about neuroscience and how the brain works. I didn't enjoy this book quite as much but it's still a worthwhile and important work on this topic. And I didn't agree with other critics who felt the author was attempting to separate humans from other hominoids so that we could justify our ill treatment of them. He says: “Today it is impossible to seriously refute this point: We are anatomically, neurologically, genetically, physiologically apes.”

At another point I thought he was channeling Carl Sagan when talking about the number of neurons and synapses in the human brain when he says, “With all these permutations the number of possible brain states is staggeringly vast; in fact, it easily exceeds the number of elementary particles in the known universe.” Sagan used a nearly identical phrase in his Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence.

I enjoyed the first half of the book where he describes: how various brain abnormalities, caused by injury or disease, can be used to learn about how the human brain works; how his low-tech experiments and treatments sometimes answered questions that the latest scanning technology could not; how his studies of synesthetes, those who associate numbers with colors, revealed that possible “cross-wiring” between the sections of the brains for processing these different phenomena could be the cause. These were all fascinating.

Anyone with a particular interest in the cause of autism would certainly want to read his chapter on this subject in which he concludes that the main cause of the disease is most likely a dysfunctional mirror neuron system. Mirror neurons are a major topic and theme throughout the book.

I found the the latter half of the book where he delves into language, aesthetics and art to be less interesting, more speculative, and less compelling based on the evidence he provides.

It did provide a useful basis for better understanding of the next two books I read: Lone Survivors: How We Came to Be the Only Humans on Earthand Masters of the Planet, wherein evolution of the human brain and its capabilities are discussed.

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Jan 01, 2013 Martha rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, non-fiction, science

A mix of straight up science and research anecdotes, it was highly enjoyable, but some chapters held up better than others--further on in the book, there are a lot more theories and speculations the author puts forth that have not been tested yet (though he does present ideas for how to test the theories and continually reminds the reader that this should be done--I'd rather hear about these ideas once more work has been done). His tone can also be condescending at times toward people who believ...more

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Feb 10, 2013 Angus Mcfarlane rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science

Reading about the mysteries of the brain and recent attempts to unravel them provides a fascinating look into 'raw' science. There is much to learn from the established theories of science and how they came to have their authority, however, we usually only get to hear about them after the fact. Neurology has only scratched the surface of how the brain works, so the intuition, creativity and surprises emerging from new discoveries and those yet to be figured out are 'out there' to be enjoyed. The...more

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Dec 13, 2012 Sean rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book was a very interesting, and fun read. Dr. Ramachandran explains in the concepts in a way that is very easy to read throughout most of the book. Even to a beginner in psychology, this book was fun, easy to read, and above all, useful. In this book, as the title describes, Dr. Ramamchandran delves into the depths of what makes us human, whether it be evolution, religion, the prefrontal cortex, or a mix of all of them. This book is not only interesting because of the topics discussed, but...more

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Jan 15, 2013 Jessica rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own, read-in-2013

I love this book. I really like this author. He has a way of writing so that a) it's not boring, and b) it's accessible to non-neuroscientists. I like science and understanding how things work, but I have a really hard time reading non-fiction books, even when it's on a topic I enjoy. I think it's because they don't engage my imagination, so I don't get lost in them like I do fiction, so it requires more concentration, so I'm more easily distracted, etc.

Not Ramachandran's books. I enjoyed every...more

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Apr 27, 2011 Angie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: recommended-non-fiction, kindle-clubbers

After seeing him speak on a TED talk, I was curious to read his latest book. He's made his complicated field accessible and overall I found it entertaining and thought provoking. As he states, neurology is a field that's rapidly changing, we learn more each day, and what he presents here is a work in progress and certainly not the final word. But as neurology can explain questions that have long perplexed us, it seems well worth it to learn from an expert how much more we've already been able to...more

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Feb 05, 2013 Rohan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Ramachandran is an enthusiastic story-teller, and he has a taste for the bizarre. He is an engaging speaker and his BBC Reith Lectures on the Emerging Mind were truly entertaining. As a writer though, his shallowness of approach shows through particularly when he looks at issues like language, art and culture with his neuro-anatomist's lens. His writing casts the brain as an evolutionary Geppetto carving out a deterministic marionette that suffers under the illusion that it is a real boy, unmind...more

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Feb 18, 2013 Vijai rated it 3 of 5 stars

Mr. V.S. Ramachandran in this book quite misleadingly tells one more about what the brain is NOT than what it is - perfect. Sort of like a soup with way too much salt; the author promised us this soup of what must have been a conclusive hypothesis of what he knows, which he does about a select few experiments (the phantom hand thing which gets written about so many times in this book) but adds so much of suppositions that it overpowers the taste of factual inference.

I know, I know ...he sets ex...more

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Jan 12, 2013 Aravind P rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: indian-author-challenge-2013, indian-writing, non-fiction, science-related

Mirror neurons are simply fascinating. Going 4000 years back, closeness of all the early inventions like the invention of wheel, fire, self-awareness, civilization etc had always baffled the scientific world as to what made them wait for 3000 years to make the first civilization or discovery of mind and gods, in spite of having the same brain formation. What the recent studies have indicated is that at that point of time something evolved in brain which didn’t exist for other animals, something...more Mirror neurons are simply fascinating. Going 4000 years back, closeness of all the early inventions like the invention of wheel, fire, self-awareness, civilization etc had always baffled the scientific world as to what made them wait for 3000 years to make the first civilization or discovery of mind and gods, in spite of having the same brain formation. What the recent studies have indicated is that at that point of time something evolved in brain which didn’t exist for other animals, something that helped humans to learn and understand things and eventually evolve from a simple animal into a complex personality, a bunch of neurons that apparently has an ability to empathize and emulate from its surroundings as opposed to the basic motor neurons(the one that works on command from senses).

Mirror neurons form a cluster of neurons sitting on the front lobe of the brain. What it does is, it tries to mirror the events that it ‘sees’. For instance, if you are pinched on your hand you would instantly know the pain, which is quite natural as there is physical connection between the skin and the brain. But a similar emotional pain is felt when you see someone else being pinched, in a way you tend to empathize with that person. But what tells you that it is painful?. When we see someone cry a similar emotional thing tries to send us to the same state of despair, why? Ramachandran tells how the discovery of mirror neurons gave the neurologists an answer to all these questions.

Getting back to the evolution of human beings, the formation of mirror facilitated the Lamarckian evolution, named after Jean-Baptiste Lamarck. While Darwinian theory was slow and involved physical transformation, Lamarckian was quick and evolved brain instead of physique. The example he quoted was, for a Polar bear it must have taken about 1000s of years to evolve itself with the thick white coat to survive in the polar region – this is the Darwinian evolution. A boy learns by watching his father kill that polar bear, skin it and use that fluffy coat to survive in the polar region, in a matter of 10 minutes – that is the Lamarckian evolution. There is a saying in Malayalam “kaateethu kaatunnavan kurangan”(the one who imitate others are monkeys), one must have heard it while trying to imitate another person. And not just that, the elders amongst the children often get caned for showing all bad habits to youngsters to imitate. Damn it mirror neurons!

The mirror neurons are quick in capturing the ‘characteristic images’ in the brain and is quick in reproducing it later, it appears. How it works is, say we see one person getting beaten up. The brain gets a signal from mirror neurons telling that getting beaten up on arm is painful (as if it is his/her hand that is getting thrashed), the brain tries to verify that with the nerves from the arm and finds that it is not true. Then a cancellation signal goes and cancels the physical pain ‘application’, but it cannot cancel the emotional bit of the pain. So when we see someone beating a kid, we don’t feel the physical pain but we do feel the emotional pain(empathy). The interesting thing is, when the arm of this person is paralyzed or amputated there is no nerves connecting the arm with brain. Hence at that stage the brain cannot cross check the genuineness of the pain. Upon experimentation, what the neurologists have found is that people with such syndromes can even feel the physical pain. So which means if you try to pinch your arm in front of another person who doesn’t have that arm he feels the exact physical and emotional pain that you just felt, in his phantom arm!!. This is used by neurologists and physiotherapists to cure ‘learnt paralysis’ - A person sitting opposite to the patient massages or exercise his own hand, the patient in turn gets the real feel of the massage and eventually gets cured.
He points out the formation of civilization and its development by accounting it under the development of mirror neurons. How a person become insensitive after being tortured for a while, how a child learns about smoking by just seeing from his/her parent, despite of many no-smoking signs etc implies the significance of understanding the surroundings a key to human development. What this implies is that of all the senses, the brain uses visual signals as primary. He also narrates about some of his patients who have had the visual connection severed, unable to identify his mother but at the same time he knows the fact that it is his mother. So, he is deluded that that person is an imposter who looks like his mother! That emotional connection being dis-functional.

I may need to re-read the bits around languages though. This book covers what makes us to be like a human. He also tells us varied syndromes and abnormalities of brain which may bridge the neurology and psychiatry studies, one of the important one being autism which primarily is due to disfunctional mirror neurons.
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About V.S. Ramachandran

Vilayanur S. "Rama" Ramachandran is a neurologist best known for his work in the fields of behavioral neurology and psychophysics. He is currently the Director of the Center for Brain and Cognition, Professor in the Psychology Department and Neurosciences Program at the University of California, San Diego, and Adjunct Professor of Biology at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

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Books by V.S. Ramachandran

Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind

A Brief Tour of Human Consciousness: From Impostor Poodles to Purple Numbers

Encyclopedia of the Human Brain, Four-Volume Set

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“How can a three-pound mass of jelly that you can hold in your palm imagine angels, contemplate the meaning of infinity, and even question its own place in the cosmos? Especially awe inspiring is the fact that any single brain, including yours, is made up of atoms that were forged in the hearts of countless, far-flung stars billions of years ago. These particles drifted for eons and light-years until gravity and change brought them together here, now. These atoms now form a conglomerate- your brain- that can not only ponder the very stars that gave it birth but can also think about its own ability to think and wonder about its own ability to wonder. With the arrival of humans, it has been said, the universe has suddenly become conscious of itself. This, truly, it the greatest mystery of all.” — 64 people liked it

“Yet as human beings we have to accept-with humility-that the question of ultimate origins will always remain with us, no matter how deeply we understand the brain and the cosmos that it creates.” — 5 people liked it

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