More Brain Science!

Yesterday, I was sitting in the school library reading the brain science book I mentioned, The Accidental Mind by David J. Linden. I was about 60 pages in when I was confronted with a picture of the skull of Phineas Gage along with a brief blurb about the remarkable accident that befell him. I had seen the book Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story about Brain Science by John Fleischman on display on the top floor of the library, so I ran up, checked it out, and took a break from TAM to read it.

I’m glad that I did. In The Accidental Mind, I was a little confused by some of Linden’s explanations of the chemistry of neurology. In addition to telling Gage’s story, Phineas Gage also explained neuroscience much more simply. Thus, I was able to better understand The Accidental Mind once I finished Phineas Gage.

Phineas Gage was a railroad foreman in the mid 1800s. In a railroad accident, a 13 foot tamping iron blasted through his left cheek, up through his skull, and out the top of his head, taking away chunks of his brain. However, he fully recovered. The only thing that changed about him was his personality. Formerly kind, level-headed, and fair, Gage became rude, obnoxious, and unreasonable after the accident. The author did an excellent job of explaining not only the course of events that followed his accident, but also the science behind them. I really enjoyed it. 8/10

The Accidental Mind: How Brain Evolution Has Given Us Love, Memory, Dreams, and God was equally interesting once I got back to it. The brain science explained was more complex, yet not overly complex. I was able to follow everything, and it was really interesting. Some of the information mentioned in The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and The Secret Family was repeated in the book. It was cool to be able to think ‘Ooh! I know that!’. The first 80 pages of the book were boring in parts, because they focused more on the science and less on the practical applications. But, the information was necessary in order to understand the examples provided in the rest of the book. It was interesting. I’m thinking that I might be serious about neurology as a possible career path. I’ve certainly enjoyed the neurology-related books I’ve been reading. 8/10.

Total Books: 16
Total Nonfiction: 7 (43.75%)