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nyos's review
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Babe, listen to this! - Me, every 5 minutes
cameliarose's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 round up.
Eric R. Kandel is a Nobel Prize winner in Physiology for his research on the memory storage in neurons. The Disordered Mind: What Unusual Brains Tell Us about Ourselves is a summary of history and latest research of brain disorders. Since the development of neuroscience from 1970s onwards, the line between neurology and psychiatry has become blurred. There are no profound differences between neurological and psychiatrical diseases.
This book covers following topics:
1. Social brain and Autism spectrum
2. Mood disorder (depression and bipolar)
3. Schizophrenia
4. Memory, memory loss and Dementia (Age related memory lost, Alzheimer, Frontotemporal Dementia)
5. Creativity (brain disorder and art)
6. Movement Disorder (Parkinson Disease and Huntington Disease)
7. The interplay of conscious and unconscious emotions (PTSD and anxiety, etc...)
8. Addictions
9. Sexual differentiation of the brain and gender identity
10. Consciousness
My takeaways:
-- Genetics play an important role in mental functions. Your DNA can tell if you have predispositions to many disorders, such as Autism, Schizophrenia, mood disorders, and the likelihood of addiction if you'd ever being exposed to. Each of these brain disorders is associated with not single, but many genes. The same gene mutation may be associated with several brain disorders, such as bipolar and Schizophrenia, at the same time.
-- The older the father is, the higher the number of de novo (spontaneous) mutations occur in sperms. De novo mutation in sperms contribute to 10% of Autism cases.
-- Too much synaptic pruning is related to Schizophrenia, too little to Autism
-- There is an association between creativity and mental disorder, but creativity is not dependent upon disorders.
-- Sex hormones released during fetal development influence gender-specific behavior independent to chromosomal sex and anatomic sex.
Because of the amount of topics included in this 304 pages book, each topic can only get limited attention. His presentation of the Trolley Problem is too brief. He says, "some philosophers argue it's immoral not to intervene", but without giving his own opinion.
My biggest issue lies in Chapter 10 (sexual differentiation of the brain and gender identity). He quotes Ben Barres, a transgender scientist, who says gender is biologically bimodal because of the evolution, but gender differences are not all about social-construct, and there is hormonal differences too. I agree with this view. However, the author does not address the "sex is a spectrum"(note: biological sex, not gender) argument popular among transgender activists. He acknowledges that the longterm affects of puberty blockers are still unknown, yet he quotes "some practitioners" claim it is "immoral" not to treat transgender youth with puberty blockers. The recent Keira Bell vs NHS case (https://www.bbc.com/news/health-51676020) has highlighted the physical and psychological damage to the youth because puberty blockers were given prematurely. The author says transgender is not influenced socially and transgender youth rarely change their mind. These arguments have become questionable in recent years. With the surge of transgender teens (https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/feb/22/ssweden-teenage-transgender-row-dysphoria-diagnoses-soar), there comes the surge of de-transitioners too. Yet, no scientific research has been carried out to study these new phenomena. I am interested to know if the surge of transgender teens (mostly from biological girls) has anything to do with the gender discriminations and stigma towards homosexuals.
Eric R. Kandel is a Nobel Prize winner in Physiology for his research on the memory storage in neurons. The Disordered Mind: What Unusual Brains Tell Us about Ourselves is a summary of history and latest research of brain disorders. Since the development of neuroscience from 1970s onwards, the line between neurology and psychiatry has become blurred. There are no profound differences between neurological and psychiatrical diseases.
This book covers following topics:
1. Social brain and Autism spectrum
2. Mood disorder (depression and bipolar)
3. Schizophrenia
4. Memory, memory loss and Dementia (Age related memory lost, Alzheimer, Frontotemporal Dementia)
5. Creativity (brain disorder and art)
6. Movement Disorder (Parkinson Disease and Huntington Disease)
7. The interplay of conscious and unconscious emotions (PTSD and anxiety, etc...)
8. Addictions
9. Sexual differentiation of the brain and gender identity
10. Consciousness
My takeaways:
-- Genetics play an important role in mental functions. Your DNA can tell if you have predispositions to many disorders, such as Autism, Schizophrenia, mood disorders, and the likelihood of addiction if you'd ever being exposed to. Each of these brain disorders is associated with not single, but many genes. The same gene mutation may be associated with several brain disorders, such as bipolar and Schizophrenia, at the same time.
-- The older the father is, the higher the number of de novo (spontaneous) mutations occur in sperms. De novo mutation in sperms contribute to 10% of Autism cases.
-- Too much synaptic pruning is related to Schizophrenia, too little to Autism
-- There is an association between creativity and mental disorder, but creativity is not dependent upon disorders.
-- Sex hormones released during fetal development influence gender-specific behavior independent to chromosomal sex and anatomic sex.
Because of the amount of topics included in this 304 pages book, each topic can only get limited attention. His presentation of the Trolley Problem is too brief. He says, "some philosophers argue it's immoral not to intervene", but without giving his own opinion.
My biggest issue lies in Chapter 10 (sexual differentiation of the brain and gender identity). He quotes Ben Barres, a transgender scientist, who says gender is biologically bimodal because of the evolution, but gender differences are not all about social-construct, and there is hormonal differences too. I agree with this view. However, the author does not address the "sex is a spectrum"(note: biological sex, not gender) argument popular among transgender activists. He acknowledges that the longterm affects of puberty blockers are still unknown, yet he quotes "some practitioners" claim it is "immoral" not to treat transgender youth with puberty blockers. The recent Keira Bell vs NHS case (https://www.bbc.com/news/health-51676020) has highlighted the physical and psychological damage to the youth because puberty blockers were given prematurely. The author says transgender is not influenced socially and transgender youth rarely change their mind. These arguments have become questionable in recent years. With the surge of transgender teens (https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/feb/22/ssweden-teenage-transgender-row-dysphoria-diagnoses-soar), there comes the surge of de-transitioners too. Yet, no scientific research has been carried out to study these new phenomena. I am interested to know if the surge of transgender teens (mostly from biological girls) has anything to do with the gender discriminations and stigma towards homosexuals.
thebookcontent's review against another edition
4.0
I really liked this. As someone with a degree is psychology who had to take a few neuroscience classes, I was able to follow this pretty easily, I think someone who doesn’t have that background might find it a bit difficult to understand.
Definitely a great refresher of old information, teacher of new information, and overall good reference to have in my arsenal.
Definitely a great refresher of old information, teacher of new information, and overall good reference to have in my arsenal.
georgea_1234's review against another edition
5.0
This book isn't for everyone. Written by Nobel Laureate, Eric R Kandel, who is a big deal in the neuroscience world. Very much so in my world as he co-wrote the seminal textbook of my undergraduate and postgraduate years. So over a decade later it was great for me to come back to this man and listen to what has changed in the world of neuroscience. I wasn't disappointed as he covered a range of disorders such as autism, schizophrenia, memory (the focus on his work), as well as other issues I had never studied such a the role of the brain in issues of gender and art. I found it to be a good reacquaintance with my uni days and updated me on what has changed as I now work in a different field. Of course, this book isn't for the who want to dip their toe in the water - it's for someone who has some knowledge of this area or has a vested interest in learning details relating to the specific issues. If you're someone looking for the human face of a disorder in the style of Oliver Sacks - this book isn't for you.
joebathelt's review against another edition
2.0
Eric Kandel is a towering figure in neuroscience. Like many colleagues, I first came into contact with neuroscience through Kandel’s famous textbook “Principles of Neural Science”. Reading this textbook inspired me to pursue a master’s degree in basic neuroscience and then complete a PhD in cognitive neuroscience. I also enjoyed his other books on broader topics, e.g. I liked his exploration of art and science in turn-of-the-century Vienna (The Age of Insight) and his autobiography (In Search for Memory). Consequently, I was excited about this book on brain and/or mental disorders, but, unfortunately, felt very disappointed by the book. Reading this book feels like reading a textbook from 20 years ago. There is very little new insight or critical reflection on the actual contribution of the brain view of mental health. Further, some of the language is outdated. For instance, the introduction motivates the discussion of mental disorders to understand how “broken” parts of the brain can tell us about typical brain function. This is not only a precarious logical position, i.e. something broken may not provide an accurate impression of what the typical function of that part is, but is also dangerous to imply that autistic, schizophrenic, or depressed people have broken brains. The actual content of the chapters seems very sparse and is often a rehashing of the arguments of other authors with long quotes. The selection of chapters itself also seems odd. I was puzzled to find a chapter on creativity in the middle of a book on the “disordered” mind. Altogether, I’m left with the impression that the world could have done without this book.