Posted on 08/13/2018 4:15:31 PM PDT by ETL
To understand the human brain, take note of the rare, the strange and the downright spooky. That’s the premise of two new books, Unthinkable by science writer Helen Thomson and The Disordered Mind by neuroscientist Eric R. Kandel.
Both books describe people with minds that don’t work the same way as everyone else’s. These are people who are convinced that they are dead, for instance; people whose mental illnesses lead to incredible art; people whose memories have been stolen by dementia; people who don’t forget anything. By scrutinizing these cases, the stories offer extreme examples of how the brain creates our realities.
In the tradition of the late neurologist Oliver Sacks (SN: 10/14/17, p. 28), Thomson explores the experiences of nine people with unusual minds. She travels around the world to interview her subjects with compassion and curiosity.
In England, she meets a man who, following a bathtub electrocution, became convinced that he was dead. (Every so often, he still feels “a little bit dead,” he tells Thomson.)
In Los Angeles, she spends time with a 64-year-old man who can remember almost every day of his life in extreme detail.
And in a frightening encounter in a hospital in the United Arab Emirates, she interviews a man with schizophrenia who transmogrifies into a growling tiger.
By visiting them in their element, Thomson presents these people not as parlor tricks, but as fully rendered human beings. ..."
By connecting these strange brains to everyday mental processes, both books make clear how much we all have in common, and more than that, how all our brains are a little bit unusual.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencenews.org ...
And then there is the democrat “brain”.
Save for later reading. This topic fascinates me. So many people are diagnosed with disorders today, that I wonder if what’s being ignored is that the tendency to think differently is absolutely okay.
Abby Normal
“the tendency to think differently is absolutely okay.’
Not always.
What I find especially incredible is how an injured or damaged brain somehow “rewires” itself, and parts known for certain functions and behaviors suddenly perform new functions.
Around the fire we'd talk and,given that most of our group was made up of medical personnel,Marten kept us spellbound with his stories of the research that he and his colleagues were doing.
A humbling experience for me...certainly.
Forwards are by Amy Farrahfowler.
LOL
Brings to mind the 50s or 60s sci-fi cult classic The Island of Doctor Moreau!
MRI's are not conclusive........
Can you get it up and perform like a 60 year old or is that all in your brain too?..........LOL!
Related: Top 10 AMAZING SAVANTS With REAL SUPER POWERS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZsJ6BtOh60&t=116s
“Had an MRI for squamous skin cancer and the MRI revealed that i have the brain of a 60 year old male, and i’m 90.”
I had a brain MRI, but they didn’t find anything.
Rimshot!
And I have the mind of an 8 year old!
Bada Boom!
How about a 4-yo like Mozart? Wore himself out before his time. Cast aside . . .
In England, she meets a man who, following a bathtub electrocution, became convinced that he was dead.
I was dead once. Came back after they shocked me and was in a coma for 10 days.
I had a brain MRI, but they didn’t find anything.
Rimshot!
HRC had a brain MRI - and that’s when the doctors discovered she had hemorrhoids!
Rimshot!
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