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Title: The Private Life of the Brain: Emotions, Consciousness, and the Secret of the Self by Susan A. Greenfield ISBN: 0-471-39975-2 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 11 May, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.67 (9 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Complex but interesting.
Comment: The Private Life of the Brain by Susan Greenfield is a very complex work on consciousness and theory of self. Trained in the field of neuropharmacology and physiology with degrees from St. Hilda's College, Oxford, United Kingdom, the College de France, Paris, and NYU Medical Center, New York, the author has held lecture posts at several of the world's prestigious universities including Lincoln College, Oxford, the Institute of Neuroscience, La Jolla, California, and Queens University, Belfast. In 1998 she became the first female director of Britain's Royal Institution. Her current research is in the causes of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. With this vita she is eminently equipped to discuss the topic.
Although the book seems to be a bit rambling, this is because it covers a lot of territory-but then there is a lot of territory to cover: brain anatomy-physiology, chemistry, neuro-connections, diseases, emotions, consciousness and the emergent self. Probably because she is a pharmacologist and physiologist and most especially a scientist, she approaches her subject by dividing it into aspects that illuminate these characteristics and give rise to testable hypotheses regarding the inner workings of the brain and mind. The chapter headings are therefore: 1) The Idea (the problem of consciousness), 2) The Story So Far (a history of the theories of mind), 3) The Child (early consciousness), 4) The Junkie (pain, euphoria, neuro-effective and neurophysiological chemicals), 5) The Nightmare (loss of consciousness), 6) The Depressive (highs and lows of consciousness), 7) The Human Condition (emotions and a theory of consciousness), 8) The Answer (the wrap up). Certainly much of the material, especially in the first two chapters, is a recap of the work of others. This is the usual approach to a topic about which one wishes to introduce new information; first you inform your reader of what has been done and by whom and how it fits with what you are yourself doing. Much of this may be new to those who have not studied anything about mind-brain research, but for those who have the names will be familiar: Edelman, Aleksander, Chalmers, Crick and Koch, Calvin, and Dennett, among others. In line with this style of authorship, most of the bibliography Greenfield cites is in the form of articles in prestigious professional journals from the 1980s to the 1990s (the book was published in 2000). One finds here periodicals like Science, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Neurology, Journal of Cell Science, etc. Most of these entries will probably not interest any but the professional in the field. Fortunately the author has done most of the work herself and puts the research into understandable perspective for the amateur.
For myself, I found some of the information very interesting, even useful in my profession. I had heard of and even seen ecupuncture use to control some types of pain, but had felt that it was all a placebo effect. Professor Greenfield pointed out, however, that research on the topic reveals that naloxone (Narcan) can reverse the effects of ecupuncture just as it can the effects of narcotic analgesics. Since I've given naloxone to over narcotized patients (it's preferable to waking them up and asking them to "breathe") I have seen its effects. The knowledge that it is effective in reversing ecupuncture suggests that while the effect of ecupuncture might be "in the mind" it is also legitimate and physiological. I also found the information on brain physiology/chemistry in analgesia and anesthesia informative, since I work in Recovery Room and ICU nursing where I see the effects of these drugs are often very individual.
As to the topics of mind, consciousness and self I would say that the author's thesis is far more convincing than any other I've read so far, if for no other reason than that she offers substantial physiological and chemical proof in favor of it and that it gives rise to testable hypotheses. As she writes: "The key concepts arising from this book are as follows: (1) emotion is the most basic form of consciousness; (2) minds develop as brains do-both as a species and as an individual starts to escape genetic programming in favor of personal experience-based learning; (3) the more you have of (1) at any moment, then the less you have of (2), and vice versa. The more the mind predominates over raw emotion, the deeper the consciousness (pp. 181-182)."
A very informative if somewhat complex book.
Rating: 3
Summary: A bit unfocused
Comment: "The more we feel, the less we are, literally, ourselves - the less encumbered we are by previous, idiosyncratic associations the personalize the brain into the mind"
This is the authors proposal, and she uses the examples of the child, the junkie, the depressive to show how this theory plays out in actual experience.
She equates emotions with nature, living in the moment and lower brain structures and equates thoughts with nurture, reflection and the prefrontal cortex.
This dichotomy seems spot on in some of her examples and I could see some parallels to my own life. However, sometimes I couldn't understand her at all, I have no doubt that what she was trying to say made sense to her but to me it seemed like unfocused wandering. I prefer a more structured book
Rating: 1
Summary: Frustrating
Comment: All the author did was to put together a long string of Names and refefences. I wish I could remember anything from the book, but no, not even the sentence that was repeated about 1000 times...
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Title: The Human Brain: A Guided Tour by Susan A. Greenfield ISBN: 0465007260 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: November, 1998 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness by Antonio R. Damasio ISBN: 0156010755 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 10 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: BBC Brain Story: Unlocking Our Inner World of Emotions, Memories, Ideas and Desires by Susan A. Greenfield ISBN: 0789478390 Publisher: DK Publishing Pub. Date: 01 October, 2001 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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Title: A User's Guide to the Brain: Perception, Attention, and the Four Theaters of the Brain by John J. Ratey ISBN: 0375701079 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 08 January, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Consciousness: An Introduction by Susan J. Blackmore ISBN: 019515343X Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: October, 2003 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
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