Customer Reviews:
 the brain September 5, 2008
a very good introduction in terms of getting you interested and it is fairly easy to understand. for someone with no previous knowledge of any biology it might seem a bit heavy but as long as you concentrate in the harder places it's not a problem. obviously it doesn't give a complete overview and some areas have to much or too little focus but it is an interesting and enthusiastic introduction which is a good way to decide if you are really interested in this kind of stuff, and if you are it points you in the right direction well with a further reading list. so if you have always wondered about how your brain and neuronal sensory and motor systems work this give you a good way to ease into the area, and will take you at most a two evenings to read.
A brainy introduction, but not picture perfect October 15, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
O'Shea's book provides a very broad overview of the structure and function of the most complex object known to Man. The biochemical and physical interactions of neurons, the formation of memory, brain-machine interaction, and a range of other topics, are all touched upon in a readable and informative manner, pitched at the level of an intelligent beginner, and requiring just an elementary grasp of physics and chemistry. The book has one significant shortcoming: Most of the illustrations are copied from other publications, and are a poor match with the text. For example, on page 45 there is a diagram illustrating avoidance behaviour in unicellular animals, a simple concept not requiring a diagram, let alone one that occupies almost an entire page and contains labels that are not referenced in the text. Yet when we come to the discussion of the large-scale structure of the human brain, in Chapter 4, which cries out for a detailed diagram, there is none. I was reduced to finding one online, to refer to as I read the text. I agonized long and hard about whether to deduct a star, because I do recommend this book, but in the end I decided I had to. I hope OUP reissue it with more relevant illustrations.
"I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdgnieg..." July 17, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
"...after all, the brain is stupendously complicated." O'Shea breaks up his Introduction into chapters on the history of brain studies, the workings of an individual neuron, the brain as a whole (each region's functions), sense and perception, memory creation and, finally, AI and bionics. Despite some parts getting a bit down and dirty with those damn `facts of the matter', O'Shea manages to write a pretty engaging book, as a whole.
Whilst some sentences, like:
"Ionotropic receptors mediate a direct and rapid coupling between neurotransmitter binding and the generation of a brief electrical signal in the post-synaptic neuron",
for example, can make simple fools like me say `eep', I say to you DON'T WORRY, FOOLS!, they are few and far between and happily compensated for with gems such as:
"Astonishingly, when I saw this demonstrated recently, about half the audience completely failed to notice the gorilla."
And again:
"One of the neurons responded when seven quite different pictures of the same actress, Jennifer Aniston, were shown; yet in an extraordinary display of selectivity and discrimination the same neuron did not respond to pictures of Jennifer with her then husband Brad Pitt."
Thankfully, O'Shea litters the book with just such little hooks. The letter-jumbling above is one example, the best though are the web-links like the `invisible gorilla' (unbelievable) and the McGurk effect. Pick them up as you read and they're like helpful extras which break up the prose and make it all a lot more like fun. I get the impression this book could have been soooooo boring in the wrong hands, but the man did good. If you're curious about the brain, this is a definite yes.
The Brain and Me! July 2, 2006
2 out of 64 found this review helpful
Professor Michael O'Shea implies that the brain does the thinking!
It ain't so.
I, the PERSON, use the brain. The question is 'who am I'?
The BRAIN is a functioning, material part of the body.
I, as a human being, am the sum of the totality of this being, part siritual, part physical.
I know and love using my brain. I know and love a rose because I can see, smell and touch it, but I cannot get the rose into my mind, for the rose is physical and my mind is not: i.e. my knowing power is spiritual.
I am a spiritial being as well as physical. Important to recognise this when considering the knowing and loving powers that I have, centered in the brain no doubt, but distinguishable from it.
The professor does not appear to make the distinction.
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