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A review by neven
The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist's Quest for What Makes Us Human by V.S. Ramachandran
4.0
Breezy, fun, and very insightful tour of new discoveries in neurology, with an Oliver Sacks-ian focus on interesting neurological disorders, and on mirror neurons. Ramachandran writes (and thinks) in an affable, optimistic, folksy way. This would sound annoying in a pure pop-science writer, but Ramachandran is an experienced researcher, and his examples and explanations have that quality of instant clarification. In a single throwaway remark, he can open a very wide door of interest. (Would watching a horror movie stop a panic attack? Are puns the opposite of metaphors?)
One slightly unfortunate side effect of his casual, playful tone is that he often reaches for humor—which is fine in itself, but his jokes are quite bad. They're grade-A uncle-joke material, corny and slightly inappropriate in a way that makes you want to go "yeeeah we don't say that anymore". Ramachandran isn't quite as caring and sensitive as Sacks in his attitude toward his patients, but he seems sensitive enough that I'm sure he's a nice dude. I just wish he'd lay off the wonky jokes.
Another slightly problematic area is his attempt at analysis of the building blocks of art and art appreciation. He ties them to basic aspects of visual processing: symmetry, contrast, etc. and some higher-level stuff (metaphor). This is all fine, and I'm in agreement; however, he stops a bit short, only noting in passing other qualities of art (such as ego and social effects). This is partly due to a focus on visual art; true, we humans are visual creatures, but not exclusively so. It could be neat if Ramachandran approached music and literature with the same neurologically-minded mind. Like 'Musicophilia', but a bit more academically strict.
It's a very fun book to power through, and I'm looking forward to more.
One slightly unfortunate side effect of his casual, playful tone is that he often reaches for humor—which is fine in itself, but his jokes are quite bad. They're grade-A uncle-joke material, corny and slightly inappropriate in a way that makes you want to go "yeeeah we don't say that anymore". Ramachandran isn't quite as caring and sensitive as Sacks in his attitude toward his patients, but he seems sensitive enough that I'm sure he's a nice dude. I just wish he'd lay off the wonky jokes.
Another slightly problematic area is his attempt at analysis of the building blocks of art and art appreciation. He ties them to basic aspects of visual processing: symmetry, contrast, etc. and some higher-level stuff (metaphor). This is all fine, and I'm in agreement; however, he stops a bit short, only noting in passing other qualities of art (such as ego and social effects). This is partly due to a focus on visual art; true, we humans are visual creatures, but not exclusively so. It could be neat if Ramachandran approached music and literature with the same neurologically-minded mind. Like 'Musicophilia', but a bit more academically strict.
It's a very fun book to power through, and I'm looking forward to more.