A review by cisko
Soul Made Flesh: The Discovery of the Brain-and How it Changed the World by Carl Zimmer

3.0

A solid introduction to the history of the realization of the role of the brain. The book centers on Thomas Willis, the alchemist, physician, and anatomist. His studies, conducted among the early fellows of the Royal Society in seventeenth-century England, cast off a great deal of ancient and Medieval teaching about the body in general and the brain in particular. The book is strongest at the somewhat grisly work of describing the experiments and dissections conducted by Willis and others who founded the Society, and at placing their education and research in context with their predecessors and peers. (This is at times a difficult book to read over a meal.) I would have liked to read more about research beyond Willis’ immediate circle, in both geographic and temporal proximity; in particular, Willis and his cohort walked us to the edge of further revelatory discoveries, and the book would have been more complete if it had followed along. Likewise, the connections to modern understanding were a bit thin, contained in a single, final chapter. (The 2003 publication date probably doesn’t help, as there’s been much brain and AI research in the last 15 years.) I think too that there are still fundamental philosophical issues that remain relevant that would have been interesting to discuss. Ultimately, it’s a good read, and while a bit slight, is a good overview of the start of a revolution in how medicine and science are conducted.