5/8/2023 0 Comments The idiot brain reviewBy this I mean that he proposes in the title and introduction to show that the brain is not this amazing machine but rather an idiotic one but, after some initial attempts to make jokes at the brain’s expense, he ends up doing what all books on the brain do: marvels at it. It’s a small point, but annoying.Ī bigger gripe is that Burnett effectively lies. In fact, in this one area, the brain and computers really do share a common method as anyone who has had to defragment their hard drive will know. He’s right about the brain but, alas, wrong about computers. For instance, he refers to the oft-quoted comparison that the brain is like a computer and dismisses this because whereas a computer stores ‘memory’ in a specific place that can be reliably retrieved, the brain creates its neuronal links in a much more haphazard way. The neurological side is solid but, even there, the author does disappoint occasionally. Every decent GCSE Psychology student will know the research Burnett presents and quite a lot of it is out of date or been heavily criticised. There are limits, however, to the praise. The pace of the writing is slow enough not to bedazzle but fast enough not to be bored by the information poured out by the author. It is wittily written – and a good giggle is always worth the price of a book. There is much to praise for Dean Burnett’s book on the brain.
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