And clowns.' Entertaining stuff from the author of the Guardian science blog, 'Brain Flapping,' which has been viewed over 11 million times in the last two years. One section is titled 'There is nothing to fear but fear itself. COGNITIVE SCIENCE Ever popular, books about the brain typically extol its wonders, but Burnett lets us in on all the weird things it does, ranging from blackouts to insomnia, and all the mistakes we’ve made in trying to determine how it works. Idiot Brain: What Your Head Is Really Up To. This review was written by Anne-Grete Märtson.Burnett, Dean. Definitely an unusual read, but well worth it. Nevertheless, even real neuro-scientists appreciate the amusing way facts are presented: after all, Dean Burnett has a PhD in the subject.īeing a researcher in the medical field I might have been familiar with some concepts already, however it did make me laugh and shake my head in disbelief more than once. That being said, I wish he had provided more explanations for some phenomena.

The book is funny, reader-friendly and a (surprisingly) easy read for non-neurologists like me. The fact that this is an immensely popular book is not a surprise. “One of the brain’s most prominent skills is the ability to ignore anything that becomes too predictable, no matter how important it may be.” By and large, humans are messy, chaotic and illogical creatures (due largely to the workings of the human brain) and much of science reflects this.”

“Deadlines are one of the most common ways of inducing stress that provoke an increase in performance.” So, the subjects are quite varied, even though we are only talking about the brain.

The book is divided into chapters that describe different aspects of the brain – for example Fear: nothing to be scared of (The many ways in which the brain makes us constantly afraid) or Group hug! (How the brain is influenced by other people) etc. Burnett describes how capable our mind is of working in extreme situations and, interestingly, how our brain is capable of getting us to do irrational things while actually working normally. For example, he describes how our mind ‘messes with our memories, jumps at shadows, and convinces us we’re brilliant when we’re not’. He gives explanations to different mechanisms in a readable way. The author shows how our brain really reacts in different situations, sometimes in a very bizarre and peculiar way. Whether you are a teacher, philologist or a scientist in the lab, this is a readable book to everybody interested in finding out how the brain works. What happens when a neuroscientist/psychiatrist turned comedian writes a book about the brain and how it works? Well, in short, an immensely amusing book about neurology.

The idiot brain review