Welcome to Your Brain
Why You Lose Your Car Keys but Never Forget How to Drive and Other Puzzles of Everyday Life
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3.6 • 5 Ratings
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
Does drinking really kill brain cells? Does listening to Mozart make your baby smarter? For all the mileage we've gotten from our own brains, most of us have essentially no idea how they work. We're easily susceptible to myths (like the "fact" that we use only 10% of our brains) and misconceptions (like the ones perpetrated by most Hollywood movies), probably because we've never known where to turn for the truth.
But neurologists Sandra Aamodt and Sam Wang are glad to help. In this funny, accessible book, we get a guided tour of our own minds, what they're made of, how they work, and how they can go wrong. Along the way, we get a host of diagrams, quizzes, and "cocktail party tips" that shed light on the questions we nag each other about. (Can a head injury make you forget your own name? Are dolphins smarter than chimpanzees?)
Fun and surprisingly engrossing, Welcome to Your Brain shows you how your brain works, and how you can make it work better.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Neuroscientists Aamodt, editor-in-chief of Nature Neuroscience, and Wang, of Princeton University, explain how the human brain with its 100 billion neurons processes sensory and cognitive information, regulates our emotional life and forms memories. They also examine how human brains differ from those of other mammals and show what happens to us during dreams. They also tackle such potentially controversial topics as whether men and women have different brains (yes, though what that means in terms of capabilities and behavior, they say, is up in the air) and whether intelligence is shaped more by genes or environment ("genes set an upper limit on people's intelligence, but the environment before birth and during childhood determines whether they reach their full genetic potential"). Distinguishing their book are sidebars that explode myths no, we do not use only 10% of our brain's potential but nearly all of it and provide advice on subjects like protecting your brain as you get older. The book could have benefited from a glossary of neurological terms and more illustrations of the brain's structure. Still, this is a terrific, surprisingly fun guide for the general reader. B&w illus.
