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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 612.8
EAN num: 9781843104704
ISBN number: 1843104709
Label: Jessica Kingsley Publishing houses
Manufacturer: Jessica Kingsley Publishing houses
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 270
Printing Date: May 15, 2008
Publishing house: Jessica Kingsley Publishing houses
Sale Popularity Level: 726093
Studio: Jessica Kingsley Publishing houses
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Meet the inhabitants of the brain in this reader-friendly introduction to what it is and how it works. Residents include Frederick Foresight (the frontal cortex), Mayor of Cephalton-upon-Ridge, who is the 'big picture' person responsible for planning and decision-making; Sage Seahorse (the hippocampus), who has an astonishing memory for times, names and places; Annie Almond (the amygdala), the community's alarm system who is always on the alert; and, many other fellow citizens. Each character is introduced and their appearance, role and key functions in the brain explained. The authors also show what happens when things go wrong in the brain, and illustrate the work using examples of classic clinical cases. This book provides an immediate and entertaining way for anyone to gain a basic understanding or to refresh their knowledge of the inside workings of the brain.
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Rated by buyers -
This is a fantastic book for anyone from the Psych 101 enrollee to a post-graduate clinical practitioner. Even if you are neuropsych major...
Did you know that the reason why "emotions are not easy to control by thought" is because there approximately ten times more connections from the emotional center (amygdala) to the thinking/reasoning/cognitive part of the brain (frontal lobe) than in reverse?
Somehow I missed this important part of brain trivia in my grad copy of Kalat's "Biological Psychology." "Who's Who of the Brain" is chock full of these CE moments (CE - Continued Education).
The book is an extended but a non-tiring metaphor. The brain is a community and the book is a literal "Who's Who" of it. The format is a kind of interweave of the metaphor and technical reference. Each section begins with an introduction of a colorful, easy-to-remember prepackaged mneumonic of a character such as Frederick Foresight (for the executive functions of the frontal lobes), with the metaphorical description of the character's roles and functions (Frederick Foresight is a mayor), and what a given character is like when under duress or ill (associated brain dysfunction). Following the metaphoric description, the brain part in question is then examined in accessible technical terms. The chapters offer useful diagrams and continous cross-referencing of the mneumonic character names with the neuropsych technical terminology which results in a value-added conditioning (in case you happen to be cramming for an exam).
In reading the preface, I was struck by the ambition of the undertaking - to infuse a spectrum of colour into the grayest of all matters!
Having read the book (on a loan from the Western Psych library(WPPIC, Pittsburgh, PA), I immediately ordered it. The book is more than a resource. I believe it is potentially the beginning of a successful popularization of the subject that has been less successfully attempted in the manual-for-your-brain genre.
Instead of trying to perfect the accessibility of the otherwise complex information, the "Who's Who" taps into the Facebook/MySpace mentality of social mapping. And in doing so, the "Who's Who" authors provide a truly integrated cohesive and rememberable picture of the amazing complexity that we carry on our shoulders. Yes, the book - without trying to be therapeutic - has a feel-good touch. All the characters shine with dialectical nuance, making the reader proud of his or her own Ultimate Thinking Machine.
Nunn, Hanstock and Lask (the author trio), a specialist in neuropsychiatry, a health psychologist, and a child/adolescent psychiatrist, respectively, have done a great job of not going cerebral and letting the "Charleses-and-Cherries Chatterleys" of their own brains speak on the behalf of their Frederick Foresights(Charles Chatterly stands for Wernicke's area, a "chief telephonist and amateur lexicographer" in the town of Cephalton (aka brain) and responsible "for communication, receiving, making sense of information and finding words to give to objects and experiences"; Cherry Chatterly, Charle's twin sister, the Broca's area, is the "main news reader" in Cephalton).
The book culminates in a hilarious chapter on how the brain, with all its dramatis personae works in unison - in a kind of Jerry-Springer crisis-management tumble. But the book - as humourous and as well illustrated as it is - is no comic book. It offers case studies of brain pathology with and without happy endings, diagrams and the "when things go wrong" brain dysfunction scenarios.
In sum, the book is a pedagogical triumph that animates that which animates us. I wouldn't be surprised if somebody made an educational cartoon of the "Who's Who of The Brain."
A note to authors: time to pitch Disney! Your dynamic portrayal of the brain deserves animation.
Pavel G. Somov, Ph.D.
Author of "Eating the Moment: 141 Mindful Practices to Overcome Overeating One Meal At a Time" (New Harbinger Publications, Nov. 2008)
This reader's wishes: here's what I would be curious to see in the second addition: a) please, extend the metaphor to the issue of brain plasticity (with the exception of the case of the Sage Seahorse (the hippocampus - "the president of the Historical society," in love with Annie Almond, teh amygdala, and a "sole heir to Al Zheimer") and the London cab driver evidence, the book lacks the coverage of this important subject); b) please, endeavor to articulate through the lens of your metaphor the perennial issue of I-ness, the seat of personal phenomenology, this ineffible sense of Self - as it stands, the reader is likely to make the inference that the sense of self is perhaps the frontal lobe (Frederick Foresight); is that your position? Or is the sense of self is the Cephalton's sense of "we," the ... Read More
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