- Hardcover: 240 pages
- Publisher: Yale University Press; 1 edition (24 Jan 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0300114168
- ISBN-13: 978-0300114164
- Product Dimensions: 24.1 x 16.3 x 2.7 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 726,125 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Review
'An effective refutation of the idea that mind and matter are mutually exclusive ... a fascinating and illuminating read.'
--Karl Dallas, Morning Star, 11th August 2009
--Karl Dallas, Morning Star, 11th August 2009
The Lancet, May, 2008
'This book is, in short, a remarkable achievement... neurology has found a fine advocate.'
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
'A Portrait of the Brain' by Adam Zeman is a truly fascinating book. Like a medical detective the author uncovers different layers of the marvellous organ that is the brain.
The brain is introduced in great detail with clear explanation of modern scientific theories, tracing them back to their origins and development. Using fascinating case studies from his own experience in this field, the author takes the reader on a tour of the brain by addressing the different - sometimes rather bizarre - disorders. He requires no previous scientific knowledge from the reader as each piece of information is explained perfectly.
'A Portrait of the Brain' is a great read for anyone interested in neuroscience and will have you hooked after the first few pages. The book is not only wonderfully insightful but is also incredibly enjoyable, awe-inspiring and a highly recommended read.
The brain is introduced in great detail with clear explanation of modern scientific theories, tracing them back to their origins and development. Using fascinating case studies from his own experience in this field, the author takes the reader on a tour of the brain by addressing the different - sometimes rather bizarre - disorders. He requires no previous scientific knowledge from the reader as each piece of information is explained perfectly.
'A Portrait of the Brain' is a great read for anyone interested in neuroscience and will have you hooked after the first few pages. The book is not only wonderfully insightful but is also incredibly enjoyable, awe-inspiring and a highly recommended read.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A Portrait of the Brain, by Adam Zeman (Yale University Press, 2008) is (unusually) everything the blurb writers say it is: knowledgeable, beautifully organized, humane and well written. I have read it twice and plan to read it again.
Zeman is Professor of Cognitive and Behavioural Neurology at Peninsula Medical School (The book doesn't say which peninsula! - clue: the author now lives in Exeter, SW England)). Zeman takes us on a tour of the human brain, the most complex organism known to us, drawing on case studies to show what happens when any level goes wrong. The chapter headings whet the appetite -
Chapter 1 Atom "I Am Tired"
Chapter 2 Gene "Don't Fidget"
Chapter 3 Protein "The Light of Dawn"
Chapter 4 Organelle "Metamorphoses"
Chapter 5 Neuron "Lost in Translation"
Chapter 6 Synapse "Dr Gelineau's Dream"
Chapter 7 Neural Network "The Sense of Pre-existence"
Chapter 8 Lobe "The Art of Losing"
Chapter 9 Psyche "Betrayal"
Chapter 10 Soul "The Anatomy of the Soul"
Epilogue "O Magnum Mysterium"
Each level (Atom, Gene, etc) is illustrated by a diagram that works like a logo. The author draws widely and effectively on art, science and literature. Opening chapters cite Hippocrates, Joni Mitchell, John Harvey (1657), a Gaelic folk song, Ecclesiastes, Ivan Goncharov's Oblamov, Shakespeare and W.H. Auden, and make one want to visit or revisit Edinburgh's Dean Gallery and look at Paul Delvaux's painting, The Call of the Night. Zeman acknowledges his gratitude to the people whose humanity (sorrow, joy, cure and loss) shines through their "case study" stories.
A Portrait of the Brain combines wonder at life with a profound awareness of mortality. Like much (most?) of early Christianity, A Portrait of the Brain doesn't believe in a surviving "soul," - but such convictions allows an open faith-door to resurrection. When we die, we perish, utterly. Anything "beyond" that is a gift, not a given.
Zeman is Professor of Cognitive and Behavioural Neurology at Peninsula Medical School (The book doesn't say which peninsula! - clue: the author now lives in Exeter, SW England)). Zeman takes us on a tour of the human brain, the most complex organism known to us, drawing on case studies to show what happens when any level goes wrong. The chapter headings whet the appetite -
Chapter 1 Atom "I Am Tired"
Chapter 2 Gene "Don't Fidget"
Chapter 3 Protein "The Light of Dawn"
Chapter 4 Organelle "Metamorphoses"
Chapter 5 Neuron "Lost in Translation"
Chapter 6 Synapse "Dr Gelineau's Dream"
Chapter 7 Neural Network "The Sense of Pre-existence"
Chapter 8 Lobe "The Art of Losing"
Chapter 9 Psyche "Betrayal"
Chapter 10 Soul "The Anatomy of the Soul"
Epilogue "O Magnum Mysterium"
Each level (Atom, Gene, etc) is illustrated by a diagram that works like a logo. The author draws widely and effectively on art, science and literature. Opening chapters cite Hippocrates, Joni Mitchell, John Harvey (1657), a Gaelic folk song, Ecclesiastes, Ivan Goncharov's Oblamov, Shakespeare and W.H. Auden, and make one want to visit or revisit Edinburgh's Dean Gallery and look at Paul Delvaux's painting, The Call of the Night. Zeman acknowledges his gratitude to the people whose humanity (sorrow, joy, cure and loss) shines through their "case study" stories.
A Portrait of the Brain combines wonder at life with a profound awareness of mortality. Like much (most?) of early Christianity, A Portrait of the Brain doesn't believe in a surviving "soul," - but such convictions allows an open faith-door to resurrection. When we die, we perish, utterly. Anything "beyond" that is a gift, not a given.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I ordered this book after reading a glowing review in The Economist. Having also recently listened to a fascinating documentary on BBC Radio 4 about how understanding is developing about the role of various genes in determining personality traits and characteristics I had high expectations of learning more about what is going on at the frontier of knowledge in this area. Sadly I was disappointed. On the positive side Mr Zeman is a talented and engaging writer so reading this book was a pleasurable experience. However the 'Portrait of the Brain' he provides is at the level of the functioning of genes, cells, neurons and proteins, and various conditions that occur when bits of them don't work, presented through case studies. Whilst this was a useful reminder of what I learnt in my Biology O-Level many years ago, little was terribly new, with the exception of the chapter on BSE, but again there was not much here that one did not pick up from the newspapers. This is not to say that I already know all of the things Mr Zeman writes about, which is not the case, but I did not find myself learning anything new and cutting edge about the way the brain works. By comparison, another book by a neurologies, 'What's Going On In There' (Lise Eliot) is a truly fascinating read.
The second criticism I have of this book is that Mr Zeman lays on cultural references and literary quotations with a trowel. As these do little more than repeat a word or phrase already in a chapter heading, rather than enhance our understanding they feel more like Mr Zeman parading his erudition, which becomes a bit tedious after a while. But it does raise the intriguing question of how Mr Zeman is able to remember so clearly quite so much of what he has read, from TS Elliot to Heraclitus that he can pull out and deploy so easily so many snippets of text. It suggests a prodigious and exceptional memory capability - something that would certainly be worth exploring of itself in a book with this title. Unfortunately this is not a topic that is included. Another example of Mr Zeman's astonishing powers of recall is when he describes the moment he hears on the radio that BSE can be transmitted to humans. He describes this as being one of his 'flashbulb memories along with Kennedy's death and 9/11.' Well unless his is talking here about Teddy Kennedy I assume he is referring to the assassination of JFK in 1963. As Mr Zeman appears to be in his 50's this would mean that in the best case, as a small child he was so aware of the geo-political impact of the event that seared itself on his young brain to such an extent that it would be 30 years before another 'flashbulb memory' would occur. An ability such as this in one so young would would indeed be a precocious talent so exceptional as to be worth also of inclusion in a book such as this. Sadly it also is not part of the text.
This is by no means a bad book, which is why I have given it 3 stars, but it is not a great book either, and certainly does not live up to its title.
The second criticism I have of this book is that Mr Zeman lays on cultural references and literary quotations with a trowel. As these do little more than repeat a word or phrase already in a chapter heading, rather than enhance our understanding they feel more like Mr Zeman parading his erudition, which becomes a bit tedious after a while. But it does raise the intriguing question of how Mr Zeman is able to remember so clearly quite so much of what he has read, from TS Elliot to Heraclitus that he can pull out and deploy so easily so many snippets of text. It suggests a prodigious and exceptional memory capability - something that would certainly be worth exploring of itself in a book with this title. Unfortunately this is not a topic that is included. Another example of Mr Zeman's astonishing powers of recall is when he describes the moment he hears on the radio that BSE can be transmitted to humans. He describes this as being one of his 'flashbulb memories along with Kennedy's death and 9/11.' Well unless his is talking here about Teddy Kennedy I assume he is referring to the assassination of JFK in 1963. As Mr Zeman appears to be in his 50's this would mean that in the best case, as a small child he was so aware of the geo-political impact of the event that seared itself on his young brain to such an extent that it would be 30 years before another 'flashbulb memory' would occur. An ability such as this in one so young would would indeed be a precocious talent so exceptional as to be worth also of inclusion in a book such as this. Sadly it also is not part of the text.
This is by no means a bad book, which is why I have given it 3 stars, but it is not a great book either, and certainly does not live up to its title.
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