Scan barcode
A review by jclare2
Proust Was a Neuroscientist by Jonah Lehrer
5.0
I really loved this book. Then again, I am a geek. Anyone who is a dedicated RadioLab listener will recognize many of the stories of neuroscience that Lehrer tells, as several have been featured on that program, as has Lehrer. And actually, as a reader, this is a good thing. It's kind of like when you'd hit a new topic in a class in school and you'd already had some experience with that topic from somewhere else, so you didn't have to start from ground zero. And with tough content, that's helpful. It was like that. RadioLab was the preview, and the book took me deeper. And, most interestingly, the book connects the neuroscience with the work of related artists. For me, the science geek, that added a new dimension and depth, learning about science and art at the same time.
But the part that made me really love this book was the Coda at the end. As someone whose recent work has been in an arena called "public engagement with science" and "public understanding of science," and who is becoming familiar with pros and cons of the current set-up and conventions of this world, I think Lehrer's arguments about what is missing in society in this area is right on the money. And he says it so much more articulately than I could. I want to make copies of it and pass it around at every science education conference I go to from now on (you know, if that weren't a blatant violation of copyright law, of course).
Note: "Read" as an audiobook. (I'm doing a lot of road trips these days.) Actually, it was well-suited to audio, since it was similar to RadioLab in so many ways (my usual road trip fare). Perhaps not the best way to commit all of the details of neuroscience to memory, but an engaging way to keep one's brain active on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
But the part that made me really love this book was the Coda at the end. As someone whose recent work has been in an arena called "public engagement with science" and "public understanding of science," and who is becoming familiar with pros and cons of the current set-up and conventions of this world, I think Lehrer's arguments about what is missing in society in this area is right on the money. And he says it so much more articulately than I could. I want to make copies of it and pass it around at every science education conference I go to from now on (you know, if that weren't a blatant violation of copyright law, of course).
Note: "Read" as an audiobook. (I'm doing a lot of road trips these days.) Actually, it was well-suited to audio, since it was similar to RadioLab in so many ways (my usual road trip fare). Perhaps not the best way to commit all of the details of neuroscience to memory, but an engaging way to keep one's brain active on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.