Michael Nguyen > Recent Status Updates

7 chapters + and epilogue left. Halfway through the book now.

Hunter gatherer anthropology chapter done. Next chapter now!

Omg. That chapter on genes was extremely information heavy. I feel like geneticists must be geniuses. I have never read anything so out of my depth before. The brain stuff was easier than the gene stuff.

RNA, DNA, Genomes, Codons, Heritability, Twin Studies, Proteins, Amino Acids, Coding, Transposition. Its all going over my head like an overly complicated sci fi novel. But this is most definitely not sci fi, its reality and fascinating but extremely information dense.

Childhood trauma. Not a very intriguing topic given I was more interested in the prefrontal cortex at the time of starting this book. But we've delved there, so I guess that's where we'll delve. The next chapter is genetics. Yay.

Getting closer to the end. Not yet. But a few more reading sessions and will be done. Honor Culture, Collectivist vs Individualism. Super interesting.

About the behaviour of mothers. Also, not as interesting as the chapters on the brain.

The chapter on adolescents, adolescence and piagetian psychology is probably the most dull chapter in the book. I don't really care about teenagers and their under-developed prefrontal cortex, heightened risktaking or the piagetian analysis of their behaviours. It does ring to mind Jordan Peterson who regularly name drops that author/psychologist though.

Up to this chapter now on the "Frontal Cortical Changes in Cognition in Adolescence,"

A slow read. Taking notes. Not something to read quickly. Especially learning about neurogenesis. Next chapter is on adolescence

Great little summary for the end of chapter four

“Hormones don’t determine, command, cause, or invent behaviors. Instead they make us more sensitive to the social triggers of emotionally laden behaviors and exaggerate our preexisting tendencies in those domains. And where do those preexisting tendencies come from? From the contents of the chapters ahead of us.”

Finished the chapter on PMS, now on stress

Hormones chapter. Great stuff. Also extremely nuanced

REALLY good book. Hard to summarise technical information. The author encourages nuance over categorical thinking.