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A review by pileofmonsters
Your Haunted Brain: The Essential Guide to Understanding the Interplay Between the Science, the Psychology, and the Superstition of Ghost Hunting and Human Fear by J.R. Meza
adventurous
informative
reflective
fast-paced
3.0
The book presents itself like a study of the brain in a paranormal context but really it's just everything you need to know to become a ghost hunter. A healthy dose of skepticism and science mixed with the mystery of something you can't explain, and out comes a book with suggestions and strategy on not only combating paranormal assumptions, but also could be interpreted as an anti-anxiety guide.
Read this if you want to hear about psychological concepts on repeat (no really, have you heard about confirmation bias? after you read this book you'll never forget because the term is defined every single time it's mentioned) and take away a bunch of keywords and names to look up and find out what really happened. It's a really good summary of what the title describes, but it's not an academic book. (Once it finally stops defining confirmation bias, it starts over-defining pareidolia. This and the incredibly repetitive chapter summaries are my biggest complaints about this book, to the point where it felt like someone was playing a joke on me.)
The author helps ghost hunters use the scientific method to rule out non-supernatural causes of eerie sounds and ghostly sensations so they can focus on the mysterious unexplained, hoping to add credibility to the hunt. It you're a ghost (or if you'd like to write a ghost tale) the book might be a great resource to help get around the illusions.
Instead of repetitive description and telling the same examples over and over again, I would have liked to see more stories and claims to support the work itself. The book overuses the same vague examples which just makes me wonder what the real stories are or could be. Instead of asking the reader to imagine themselves entering a haunted house with preconceived notions about ghosts, why not provide an example of one time that happened and it turned out to be fantasy proneness vs truly unexplained circumstances. The first few chapters and the last few chapters include such examples and they are so much more interesting and exciting to read than the entire rest of the book, which is a huge bummer because it could have been way spookier.
Quick read though, good for spooky month and getting your brain in self-spooking mode. Remember kids: If you can't regulate your emotions, you might see a ghost.
Read this if you want to hear about psychological concepts on repeat (no really, have you heard about confirmation bias? after you read this book you'll never forget because the term is defined every single time it's mentioned) and take away a bunch of keywords and names to look up and find out what really happened. It's a really good summary of what the title describes, but it's not an academic book. (Once it finally stops defining confirmation bias, it starts over-defining pareidolia. This and the incredibly repetitive chapter summaries are my biggest complaints about this book, to the point where it felt like someone was playing a joke on me.)
The author helps ghost hunters use the scientific method to rule out non-supernatural causes of eerie sounds and ghostly sensations so they can focus on the mysterious unexplained, hoping to add credibility to the hunt. It you're a ghost (or if you'd like to write a ghost tale) the book might be a great resource to help get around the illusions.
Instead of repetitive description and telling the same examples over and over again, I would have liked to see more stories and claims to support the work itself. The book overuses the same vague examples which just makes me wonder what the real stories are or could be. Instead of asking the reader to imagine themselves entering a haunted house with preconceived notions about ghosts, why not provide an example of one time that happened and it turned out to be fantasy proneness vs truly unexplained circumstances. The first few chapters and the last few chapters include such examples and they are so much more interesting and exciting to read than the entire rest of the book, which is a huge bummer because it could have been way spookier.
Quick read though, good for spooky month and getting your brain in self-spooking mode. Remember kids: If you can't regulate your emotions, you might see a ghost.