How Did We Find Out About the Brain?

How Did We Find Out #32

by Isaac Asimov, Erika Kors (Illustrator)

Traces the development of scientific knowledge about the brain and how it works.

Genres: Science

61 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1987

About the author

Works of prolific Russian-American writer Isaac Asimov include popular explanations of scientific principles, The Foundation Trilogy (1951-1953), and other volumes of fiction.

Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.

Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).

People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.

Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.

Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...

Reviews

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Good Doctor jammed a lot of information into a pretty small book, as perhaps only he could do. Asimov primarily covered the history of who discovered what about the brain. He also made it clear we have a long way to go before we know everything about the brain, and ended with the hope that perhaps more knowledge of how the brain works might lead to knowledge of how to increase the positive aspects of the brain rather than negative aspects of thought. This was a great basic explanation of how the brain works and made it clear there is still much to be learned about the brain. Recommended even now as an introduction title. Remind students to note that this book is old and they need more recent titles to bring information up to date.

[TheReader31415 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an amazing short book. It talked about not only about how the brain works, but also about the people who discovered it! I am definitely going to read the next books in the series!

[Sandi · Rating 2 out of 5]

A few interesting facts but not enough to hold a student's attention or stimulate interest. This was more a paean to the scientists who were credited for making certain observations and discoveries than an informative treatise to the function of the brain.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a quick read and acts as a great historic and objective overview. There are plenty of fun facts that surprised me. I plan to read it again in the future. Quite a bit of information in so few words. I expect to read more from this series.

[Ashik Hasan · Rating 4 out of 5]

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