Other Sellers on Amazon
$13.42
+ $3.99 shipping
+ $3.99 shipping
Sold by:
RAREWAVES-IMPORTS
Sold by:
RAREWAVES-IMPORTS
(173641 ratings)
89% positive over last 12 months
89% positive over last 12 months
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Shipping rates
and
Return policy
Add to book club
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club?
Learn more
Join or create book clubs
Choose books together
Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Got a mobile device?
You’ve got a Kindle.
You’ve got a Kindle.
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. Learn more
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle Cloud Reader.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Enter your mobile phone or email address
Send link
Processing your request...
By pressing "Send link," you agree to Amazon's Conditions of Use.
You consent to receive an automated text message from or on behalf of Amazon about the Kindle App at your mobile number above. Consent is not a condition of any purchase. Message & data rates may apply.
Flip to back
Flip to front
The Human Mind Paperback – International Edition, November 23, 2004
by
Robert Winston
(Author)
Enhance your purchase
Where does personality come from? Do we all have the potential to be a Tolstoy, an Einstein or a Mozart? Written by a Professor of Fertility Studies, this accessible book takes us inside our own heads to see what really makes us tick.
From the Hardcover edition.
From the Hardcover edition.
-
Print length339 pages
-
LanguageEnglish
-
PublisherBantam
-
Publication dateNovember 23, 2004
-
Dimensions5.06 x 1.06 x 7.81 inches
-
ISBN-100553816195
-
ISBN-13978-0553816198
Inspire a love of reading with Amazon Book Box for Kids
Discover delightful children's books with Amazon Book Box, a subscription that delivers new books every 1, 2, or 3 months — new Amazon Book Box Prime customers receive 15% off your first box. Sign up now
Editorial Reviews
From the Inside Flap
Where does personality come from? Do we all have the potential to be a Tolstoy, an Einstein or a Mozart? Written by a Professor of Fertility Studies, this accessible book takes us inside our own heads to see what really makes us tick.
From the Hardcover edition.
From the Hardcover edition.
About the Author
Robert Winston is a professor of fertility studies at the University of London. His previous book was Human Instinct.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Body, brain and mind
If I were to die later today before finishing this chapter and my brain was removed from my skull, it would weigh about 1,400 grams — roughly the same as a bag and a half of granulated sugar. Before being preserved for posterity by being marinated in a jar of formalin (better still, perhaps, strong alcohol with some flavouring), about 75 to 80 per cent of my brain would be made up of water, with just over 10 per cent fat and about 8 per cent protein. If, once it was fixed, people came to examine it and poke it about a bit, it would appear rather crinkled and whitish, and have the slightly rubbery consistency of a large mushroom. And what is more, if you, dear reader, were to die at the same time and have your brain treated in the same peremptory fashion, it would be so similar to mine that any difference would almost certainly be undetectable.
The chances are that no matter how closely our respective brains were viewed, there would be hardly anything obvious to show that what amused passers-by were gazing at were two totally different specimens of the most complicated structure on this planet. There would be nothing to reveal that these two rubbery objects, which to some bystanders would seem faintly disgusting, respectively comprised the sum total of our very being and personality. Nothing to show that at some time we had both loved in different ways, had known different pains, ambitions and disappointments, and had been angry and taken pleasure at different things. Nor that we had learnt different physical and intellectual skills, had mind-bending experiences in different parts of the world, had totally different memories, liked different food or music, and that each of us had quite different human strengths and failings.
Perhaps it is not so surprising then that it has taken humans such a long time to understand the complex nature of the brain, and that it is the very centre of what makes us who we are. Although surgical drilling of holes in the skull (for whatever now mysterious purpose) goes back to Cro-Magnon man some 40,000 years ago, and knowledge of the mind-altering nature of alcohol and the sap from the poppy plant is longstanding, most old civilizations regarded the heart, not the brain, as the centre of the soul. Ancient Egyptians, when embalming human bodies, religiously preserved the heart but destroyed the brain - because otherwise it would rot — by scraping it out of a hole they drilled in the bones at the back of the nose and palate. But it was an Egyptian surgeon who left the first written descriptions that give evidence of some basic insight into neuroscience.
The Edwin Smith Papyrus is one of the oldest known written documents. It is around 3,700 years old and is a surgical treatise describing injuries, mostly to the head, in forty-eight different patients. The Egyptologist, Edwin Smith, who first handled this extraordinary manuscript brought it back from Luxor in 1862, but he did not understand the remarkable nature of the text. Its real significance was recognized by James Breasted, director of the Chicago Oriental Institute, in 1930, who realized it was a scribe's copy of a treatise from an even earlier time - possibly some 5,000 years ago. The horrifying injuries of Case Number Six give a description of the pulsating brain under the surgeon's hands:
If thou examinest a man having a gaping wound in his head, penetrating to the bone and smashing his skull, and rending open the brain, thou shouldst palpate the wound. Shouldst thou find that smash which is in his skull those corrugations which form in molten copper, and something therein throbbing and fluttering under thy fingers — like the weak place in an infant's fontanelle before it becomes whole . . . then if he suffers blood from both his nostrils and stiffness in his neck . . . thou shouldst say concerning him 'An ailment not to be treated'. Thou shouldst anoint that wound with grease but not bind it; thou shalt not apply two strips upon it until thou knowest he has reached a decisive point.
So even Egyptian physicians knew when it might be more prudent not to treat a patient actively. These hieroglyphics go on to describe the delicate membranes lining the injured brain, the meninges, and the discharge of cerebrospinal fluid from inside the head. Elsewhere the papyrus records the symptoms of a patient unable to move one limb after severe head injuries on one side, and loss of speech resulting from injuries to the temple — presumably damage to the frontal lobe and Broca's area - several thousand years before Dr Paul Pierre Broca described the speech centre in the 1860s.
The mind/body debate
Thousands of years elapsed before the brain, rather than the heart, was universally recognized as the most important organ in the body. Alcmaeon, who around 500bc was one of the earliest to see the brain's importance, regarded it as the centre of sensation - he removed an animal's eye and noted the tracts leading to the brain, recording that 'all senses are connected to the brain'. Plato believed in the soul - the essence of ourselves, and what we might in modern times call the 'mind' - and he thought that it had a separate existence from the body, to the extent that it could survive after the body had expired. He believed that the centre of the intellect was in the head.
But Aristotle, who lived from 384 to 322bc, appears to have disagreed with his teacher, Plato. He seems to have regarded the heart as more important. All the lower animals he examined — worms, insects and shellfish — had a pulsating organ resembling a heart but they did not have an obvious brain. All blood vessels led towards the heart, and he describes how the heart twitched when touched while the brain of higher animals remained inert. The fact that a chicken ran about after its head was cut off helped Aristotle to the view that 'the seat of the soul and the control of voluntary movement - in fact of nervous functions in general - are to be sought in the heart. The brain is an organ of minor importance, perhaps necessary to cool the blood.' Aristotle hugely influenced the medieval scholars who came later; after all, his view of the importance of the heart fitted with biblical accounts. The notion of the heart as the centre of human behaviour survived until the sixteenth century. 'Faith sits under the left nipple,' said Martin Luther.
A little earlier than Aristotle, though, the philosopher Democritus argued against the heart being the centre of human functions. He writes: 'The brain watches over the upper limbs like a guard, as citadel of the body, consecrated to its protection,' and adds that 'the brain, guardian of thoughts or intelligence', contains the principal 'bonds of the soul'.
Hippocrates, the father of medical practice, recognized the unique nature of the brain: 'Men ought to know that from the human brain and from the brain only arise our pleasures, joys, laughter, and jests as well as our sorrows, pains, grief and tears . . . It is the same thing which makes us mad or delirious, inspires us with dread and fear, whether by night or by day, brings us sleeplessness, inopportune mistakes, aimless anxieties, absent-mindedness and acts that are contrary to habit . . .'
In the third century BC, Herophilus and Erasistratus, both human anatomists, dissected thousands of bodies and demonstrated that nerves were different from blood vessels and that they originated not in the heart, as Aristotle thought, but in the brain or the spinal cord. Then, almost five hundred years after Herophilus' day, the Greek physician Galen (AD130-200) dissected pigs, cattle and monkeys and wrote meticulous accounts of what he had seen. By cutting various nerves, such as those coming from the spinal cord, he established the lack of function caused by their damage. He also demonstrated that severing the laryngeal nerve resulted in the loss of the ability to make noise. During his career he was a physician to gladiators in Rome. Seeing many head injuries presumably gave him an insight into the working of the nervous system and the understanding that the brain played a central role in controlling bodily and mental activity.
If I were to die later today before finishing this chapter and my brain was removed from my skull, it would weigh about 1,400 grams — roughly the same as a bag and a half of granulated sugar. Before being preserved for posterity by being marinated in a jar of formalin (better still, perhaps, strong alcohol with some flavouring), about 75 to 80 per cent of my brain would be made up of water, with just over 10 per cent fat and about 8 per cent protein. If, once it was fixed, people came to examine it and poke it about a bit, it would appear rather crinkled and whitish, and have the slightly rubbery consistency of a large mushroom. And what is more, if you, dear reader, were to die at the same time and have your brain treated in the same peremptory fashion, it would be so similar to mine that any difference would almost certainly be undetectable.
The chances are that no matter how closely our respective brains were viewed, there would be hardly anything obvious to show that what amused passers-by were gazing at were two totally different specimens of the most complicated structure on this planet. There would be nothing to reveal that these two rubbery objects, which to some bystanders would seem faintly disgusting, respectively comprised the sum total of our very being and personality. Nothing to show that at some time we had both loved in different ways, had known different pains, ambitions and disappointments, and had been angry and taken pleasure at different things. Nor that we had learnt different physical and intellectual skills, had mind-bending experiences in different parts of the world, had totally different memories, liked different food or music, and that each of us had quite different human strengths and failings.
Perhaps it is not so surprising then that it has taken humans such a long time to understand the complex nature of the brain, and that it is the very centre of what makes us who we are. Although surgical drilling of holes in the skull (for whatever now mysterious purpose) goes back to Cro-Magnon man some 40,000 years ago, and knowledge of the mind-altering nature of alcohol and the sap from the poppy plant is longstanding, most old civilizations regarded the heart, not the brain, as the centre of the soul. Ancient Egyptians, when embalming human bodies, religiously preserved the heart but destroyed the brain - because otherwise it would rot — by scraping it out of a hole they drilled in the bones at the back of the nose and palate. But it was an Egyptian surgeon who left the first written descriptions that give evidence of some basic insight into neuroscience.
The Edwin Smith Papyrus is one of the oldest known written documents. It is around 3,700 years old and is a surgical treatise describing injuries, mostly to the head, in forty-eight different patients. The Egyptologist, Edwin Smith, who first handled this extraordinary manuscript brought it back from Luxor in 1862, but he did not understand the remarkable nature of the text. Its real significance was recognized by James Breasted, director of the Chicago Oriental Institute, in 1930, who realized it was a scribe's copy of a treatise from an even earlier time - possibly some 5,000 years ago. The horrifying injuries of Case Number Six give a description of the pulsating brain under the surgeon's hands:
If thou examinest a man having a gaping wound in his head, penetrating to the bone and smashing his skull, and rending open the brain, thou shouldst palpate the wound. Shouldst thou find that smash which is in his skull those corrugations which form in molten copper, and something therein throbbing and fluttering under thy fingers — like the weak place in an infant's fontanelle before it becomes whole . . . then if he suffers blood from both his nostrils and stiffness in his neck . . . thou shouldst say concerning him 'An ailment not to be treated'. Thou shouldst anoint that wound with grease but not bind it; thou shalt not apply two strips upon it until thou knowest he has reached a decisive point.
So even Egyptian physicians knew when it might be more prudent not to treat a patient actively. These hieroglyphics go on to describe the delicate membranes lining the injured brain, the meninges, and the discharge of cerebrospinal fluid from inside the head. Elsewhere the papyrus records the symptoms of a patient unable to move one limb after severe head injuries on one side, and loss of speech resulting from injuries to the temple — presumably damage to the frontal lobe and Broca's area - several thousand years before Dr Paul Pierre Broca described the speech centre in the 1860s.
The mind/body debate
Thousands of years elapsed before the brain, rather than the heart, was universally recognized as the most important organ in the body. Alcmaeon, who around 500bc was one of the earliest to see the brain's importance, regarded it as the centre of sensation - he removed an animal's eye and noted the tracts leading to the brain, recording that 'all senses are connected to the brain'. Plato believed in the soul - the essence of ourselves, and what we might in modern times call the 'mind' - and he thought that it had a separate existence from the body, to the extent that it could survive after the body had expired. He believed that the centre of the intellect was in the head.
But Aristotle, who lived from 384 to 322bc, appears to have disagreed with his teacher, Plato. He seems to have regarded the heart as more important. All the lower animals he examined — worms, insects and shellfish — had a pulsating organ resembling a heart but they did not have an obvious brain. All blood vessels led towards the heart, and he describes how the heart twitched when touched while the brain of higher animals remained inert. The fact that a chicken ran about after its head was cut off helped Aristotle to the view that 'the seat of the soul and the control of voluntary movement - in fact of nervous functions in general - are to be sought in the heart. The brain is an organ of minor importance, perhaps necessary to cool the blood.' Aristotle hugely influenced the medieval scholars who came later; after all, his view of the importance of the heart fitted with biblical accounts. The notion of the heart as the centre of human behaviour survived until the sixteenth century. 'Faith sits under the left nipple,' said Martin Luther.
A little earlier than Aristotle, though, the philosopher Democritus argued against the heart being the centre of human functions. He writes: 'The brain watches over the upper limbs like a guard, as citadel of the body, consecrated to its protection,' and adds that 'the brain, guardian of thoughts or intelligence', contains the principal 'bonds of the soul'.
Hippocrates, the father of medical practice, recognized the unique nature of the brain: 'Men ought to know that from the human brain and from the brain only arise our pleasures, joys, laughter, and jests as well as our sorrows, pains, grief and tears . . . It is the same thing which makes us mad or delirious, inspires us with dread and fear, whether by night or by day, brings us sleeplessness, inopportune mistakes, aimless anxieties, absent-mindedness and acts that are contrary to habit . . .'
In the third century BC, Herophilus and Erasistratus, both human anatomists, dissected thousands of bodies and demonstrated that nerves were different from blood vessels and that they originated not in the heart, as Aristotle thought, but in the brain or the spinal cord. Then, almost five hundred years after Herophilus' day, the Greek physician Galen (AD130-200) dissected pigs, cattle and monkeys and wrote meticulous accounts of what he had seen. By cutting various nerves, such as those coming from the spinal cord, he established the lack of function caused by their damage. He also demonstrated that severing the laryngeal nerve resulted in the loss of the ability to make noise. During his career he was a physician to gladiators in Rome. Seeing many head injuries presumably gave him an insight into the working of the nervous system and the understanding that the brain played a central role in controlling bodily and mental activity.
Product details
- Publisher : Bantam; First edition & printing in this form (November 23, 2004)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 339 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0553816195
- ISBN-13 : 978-0553816198
- Item Weight : 12.6 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.06 x 1.06 x 7.81 inches
-
Best Sellers Rank:
#4,101,600 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4,676 in Neuroscience (Books)
- #8,495 in Medical Cognitive Psychology
- #11,577 in Cognitive Psychology (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
Start reading The Human Mind on your Kindle in under a minute.
Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.
Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.
Give the gift of Audible
Put the joy of great stories at their fingertips. Learn more
Customer reviews
4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
45 global ratings
How are ratings calculated?
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzes reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2009
Verified Purchase
Dr. Winston is a surgeon, a member of the House of Lords and a performer on BBC, which produced this book. In addition to describing the structure and functions of the human brain, the most complex structure structure in the universe and those of other species. Dr.Winston discusses relevant aspects of opera, Hamlet and daily activities. It is hard to see how he fits cocktail parties, also mentioned, in with his other activities. Actions that help or hurt the brain are also discussed. The book refers to many sources from Ader to Zeki. More readable than many other brain books.
Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2017
Verified Purchase
This is a wonderful book. It is written in a way that makes its contents accessible to readers with a medical and/or scientific background, as well as more casual readers who may be curious about the nature of the mind. The writing is easy to understand and funny at times, with great little insights into the author's own life and mind, which makes it unlikely to get boring for readers. This has become one of my favorite books.
Reviewed in the United States on November 25, 2014
Verified Purchase
Sent on to daughter as parent of new baby, lots of readable, well written information. Follows a logical pathway through what is often a maze of misinformation.
Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2012
Verified Purchase
I haven't gotten a chance to finish this book yet, but it's been awesome so far. I really like it, and I'm glad I bought it.
Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2005
A journey of exploration means maps must be made - they aren't provided. Exploring the mind, which philosophers once claimed to do, requires maps of the brain. These are only now being created. And the mappers aren't philosophers, but cognitive scientists and medical scholars. Many maps have been made available to us in recent years. Enough maps that Robert Winston could produce a guidebook on the human mind. In this highly entertaining and informative book, Winston describes what has been learned about the brain and what it means for the mind. If anybody still thought those two elements were separate, this book should dispel that misconception.
Winston is candid about the relationship of this book to a BBC-TV series, but a media link doesn't render the information less useful. He spends the first chapters outlining the way in which measurement of brain activity has improved in recent years. This must be one of the few accounts that doesn't open with Phineas Gage and the tamping iron that pierced his skull yet left him alive, if changed in personality. Instead, Winston credits Paul Broca with finding the first "module" of brain activity [speech]. The author builds from that mid-19th Century revelation with explanations of where processing areas are located and how they operate. Brain functions were located by identifying damaged areas of afflicted patients through autopsy. Building an image of which areas of the brain performed or controlled which tasks was a painfully slow process. Not until new, non-intrusive technologies were developed did the pace of research quicken.
Winston covers a number of topics with this book, citing the work of many scholars and medical professionals. They all contributed something of interest, even if their ideas proved false. The segment on lobotomies isn't for the squeamish, and it's chastening to learn how long that procedure was sustained and how widely accepted. On a more positive note, Winston is able to show how various brain-damaging illnesses and mishaps have demonstrated the brain's power of recovery. With the billions of neurons exchanging singles around the brain, damage there or to body organs may lead to the brain shifting signal paths. While the brain can't "heal" itself, it can move emphasis from one area to another. This is part of the reason why someone blinded can achieve enhanced hearing capacity. The neuronal areas processing visual information are shifted in duties to deal with sound.
This isn't only a guidebook to what is going on in the brain. It's also a user's manual in maintenance and upkeep. He explains the evolutionary roots of many of our habits. Why, for example, do we sleep? Our helpless condition during sleeping made us vulnerable to predators. Did sleep make us more alert when awake? Winston spends a good deal of time in explaining how necessary sleep and rest are to the brain. He notes the importance of dreams as a means of rearranging and prioritising our memory cargo. The recovery enabled by sleep makes us more receptive to new information.
However, some new practices overturn the benefits of sleep. There are impairments to the regular operations of the brain resulting from the use of various chemicals. Winston's long list and analysis of what damages brain cells and their processes would make a Puritan smile. From nicotine to alcohol, he presents a gloomy picture of how easy it is to reduce your brain's capacity to process information or retrieve memories needed. The processing and use of information is what the brain does to establish what we call the "mind". Even though surgeons can probe the brain without your feeling anything, this "lump of porridge" inside your skull is vulnerable.
Winston has a great store of information to provide us in this topic. The amount of research that's gone into how the brain works is vast, and growing. He describes clearly the various instruments that now measure brain activity while we're talking, reading, or even answering the investigator's questions. We can be shown pleasant scenes, horrifying events or simply add a column of figures while our brains tell the machine which areas are active in each circumstance. With diagrams, some photographs and a working bibliography, this is a fine book to use as a starting point for understanding what is going on in there. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Winston is candid about the relationship of this book to a BBC-TV series, but a media link doesn't render the information less useful. He spends the first chapters outlining the way in which measurement of brain activity has improved in recent years. This must be one of the few accounts that doesn't open with Phineas Gage and the tamping iron that pierced his skull yet left him alive, if changed in personality. Instead, Winston credits Paul Broca with finding the first "module" of brain activity [speech]. The author builds from that mid-19th Century revelation with explanations of where processing areas are located and how they operate. Brain functions were located by identifying damaged areas of afflicted patients through autopsy. Building an image of which areas of the brain performed or controlled which tasks was a painfully slow process. Not until new, non-intrusive technologies were developed did the pace of research quicken.
Winston covers a number of topics with this book, citing the work of many scholars and medical professionals. They all contributed something of interest, even if their ideas proved false. The segment on lobotomies isn't for the squeamish, and it's chastening to learn how long that procedure was sustained and how widely accepted. On a more positive note, Winston is able to show how various brain-damaging illnesses and mishaps have demonstrated the brain's power of recovery. With the billions of neurons exchanging singles around the brain, damage there or to body organs may lead to the brain shifting signal paths. While the brain can't "heal" itself, it can move emphasis from one area to another. This is part of the reason why someone blinded can achieve enhanced hearing capacity. The neuronal areas processing visual information are shifted in duties to deal with sound.
This isn't only a guidebook to what is going on in the brain. It's also a user's manual in maintenance and upkeep. He explains the evolutionary roots of many of our habits. Why, for example, do we sleep? Our helpless condition during sleeping made us vulnerable to predators. Did sleep make us more alert when awake? Winston spends a good deal of time in explaining how necessary sleep and rest are to the brain. He notes the importance of dreams as a means of rearranging and prioritising our memory cargo. The recovery enabled by sleep makes us more receptive to new information.
However, some new practices overturn the benefits of sleep. There are impairments to the regular operations of the brain resulting from the use of various chemicals. Winston's long list and analysis of what damages brain cells and their processes would make a Puritan smile. From nicotine to alcohol, he presents a gloomy picture of how easy it is to reduce your brain's capacity to process information or retrieve memories needed. The processing and use of information is what the brain does to establish what we call the "mind". Even though surgeons can probe the brain without your feeling anything, this "lump of porridge" inside your skull is vulnerable.
Winston has a great store of information to provide us in this topic. The amount of research that's gone into how the brain works is vast, and growing. He describes clearly the various instruments that now measure brain activity while we're talking, reading, or even answering the investigator's questions. We can be shown pleasant scenes, horrifying events or simply add a column of figures while our brains tell the machine which areas are active in each circumstance. With diagrams, some photographs and a working bibliography, this is a fine book to use as a starting point for understanding what is going on in there. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
12 people found this helpful
Report abuse
Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2013
If you're not familiar with the topics of psychology and/or neurology, than read this book. Winston's summary and discussion of the field is funny, easy(ish) to read and relevant.
If you're like me and read (perhaps too) many books on the topic, how does Winston's piece stack up to other brain heavyweights?
Well he has some strengths: Winston lacks the cold depth many neuro/psychology writers develop. He adds a human touch when discussing ofttimes disturbing psychological findings, without taking away from the hard science of the information.
Where does Winston perform less well? In the intro to his books Winston often owns up to his own errors, and I found myself wishing he did just hire a darn editor. While I don't think there were that many 'errors' per se, the tangents, unusual and eccentric changes in subject or occasional poorly structured information grated more than once.
Worth a read?
Definitely
Annoying?
Yes
If you're like me and read (perhaps too) many books on the topic, how does Winston's piece stack up to other brain heavyweights?
Well he has some strengths: Winston lacks the cold depth many neuro/psychology writers develop. He adds a human touch when discussing ofttimes disturbing psychological findings, without taking away from the hard science of the information.
Where does Winston perform less well? In the intro to his books Winston often owns up to his own errors, and I found myself wishing he did just hire a darn editor. While I don't think there were that many 'errors' per se, the tangents, unusual and eccentric changes in subject or occasional poorly structured information grated more than once.
Worth a read?
Definitely
Annoying?
Yes
Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2011
I found this to be both an entertaining and informative read. The writing style is immensely easy to read and the knowledge contained within the book is truly eye opening. It covers all aspects of the brain from addiction to emotion, and memory to relationships, and more besides. I agree that Winston strays from the narrative at times, but it generally seems to be done to make a point, and I found it added to the overall entertainment of the book (after all, it's good to enjoy a book whilst you learn as well!). This is a good first book to read if you're interested in the human brain and how it works and if the interest grabs you there's plenty more out there to explore. Well worth a go, you shouldn't be disappointed.
Feel free to check out my blog which can be found on my profile page.
Feel free to check out my blog which can be found on my profile page.
Top reviews from other countries
Victoria Clarke
3.0 out of 5 stars
Prompt delivery, tatty book.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 13, 2020Verified Purchase
More Tatty than expected. Postage costs made it less of a bargain than the item price implies.
Roslyn Young
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mmmm...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 14, 2010Verified Purchase
I found this book interesting. It takes the reader through the science of the moment, giving lay people a quick look at what science can tell us about ourselves. It's then for the really inquisitive reader to look into matters further, and this is possible since most references are supplied.
One person found this helpful
Report abuse
mike.dbike
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 4, 2017Verified Purchase
Excellent book
David H.
5.0 out of 5 stars
What's not to like?
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 18, 2018Verified Purchase
Amazing chap, amazing book, broad ranging subject matter and a focus on the power and importance of collaboration, education & inspiration. Totally Recommended
One person found this helpful
Report abuse
Customer
3.0 out of 5 stars
mediocre
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 29, 2019Verified Purchase
mediocre and superficial to some extent.No mention of the guts brain cells and their synergy and symbiosis


