The God Impulse: Is Religion Hardwired into the Brain?
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Review
'An eloquent and compassionate landmark in our understanding of human nature' --Oliver Sacks
'Revealed: The startling truth about near-death experiences. Tunnels of light. Meetings with dead loved ones... compelling' --Daily Mail --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
'Revealed: The startling truth about near-death experiences. Tunnels of light. Meetings with dead loved ones... compelling' --Daily Mail --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Review
.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Hardcover
what an interesting read. There may not be too many revelations as most of what the author says is based on known and previously published theory. But what it is, is a very interesting, relatively easy read on what for some may well be a contoversial subject.
0 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
They say you should not judge a book by its cover, well how about it's title? 'The God Impulse' deals more with mystical and spiritual experience people experience in near-death situations, rather than the religious beliefs they hold in their daily lives which is what I was expecting.
He does make some interesting neurological points that can apply to religious belief such as experiments conducted by Sam Harris et al which showed that it takes more brain activity to disbelief something and that the pre-frontal region of the brain had a stronger signal in Christians when asked questions about God. But the book primary focus is on experiences towards death. The analysis is pretty rigorous. Nelson's uses his neurological background as he deconstructs experiences such as people thinking they are going to heaven or seeing magical lights and shows that this is nothing more than hallucinations and delusions based on things like the
brain changing states between REM and other states of conciousness. The arguments are well made. But the subject matter is just depressing. Give me John and Edward any day! He does throws in interesting facts that the number of brain cells we have is at about 100 billion which is around the same number as stars in the Milky Way galaxy. But overall the theme of the book was just a bit too depressing. He should have thrown in a few jokes to lighten things up a bit!
I just think it's unhealthy to think too much about death. I am more a live your life now and make the most of it person. Yes religion and magical experiences in death probably are just hallucinations. In fact I am nearly certain they are without requiring scientific evidence. So, I am not dismissing the scientific validity of any of his points. I just found the subject matter and the presentation style of it too morbid.
He does make some interesting neurological points that can apply to religious belief such as experiments conducted by Sam Harris et al which showed that it takes more brain activity to disbelief something and that the pre-frontal region of the brain had a stronger signal in Christians when asked questions about God. But the book primary focus is on experiences towards death. The analysis is pretty rigorous. Nelson's uses his neurological background as he deconstructs experiences such as people thinking they are going to heaven or seeing magical lights and shows that this is nothing more than hallucinations and delusions based on things like the
brain changing states between REM and other states of conciousness. The arguments are well made. But the subject matter is just depressing. Give me John and Edward any day! He does throws in interesting facts that the number of brain cells we have is at about 100 billion which is around the same number as stars in the Milky Way galaxy. But overall the theme of the book was just a bit too depressing. He should have thrown in a few jokes to lighten things up a bit!
I just think it's unhealthy to think too much about death. I am more a live your life now and make the most of it person. Yes religion and magical experiences in death probably are just hallucinations. In fact I am nearly certain they are without requiring scientific evidence. So, I am not dismissing the scientific validity of any of his points. I just found the subject matter and the presentation style of it too morbid.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4 reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
This book changed my view of everything
7 April 2011
Format:Hardcover
I am a pre-med student and after reading this book I now passionately desire to become a neurologist. Kevin Nelson gives fantastic insight on some of the incredible recent discoveries on the human brain. He pretty much explains every way that science can explain or at least give a good attempt of explaining the spiritual experiences of man. I was a passionate evangelical Christian for a great portion of my life and I had many spiritual experiences that i thought would never be explained by science, this book proved that idea wrong. The book both humbles me greatly about my perception of reality and makes me extremely proud to be a human being because of the evolutionary masterpiece that I possess between my ears.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Old Info, new package
28 Feb 2012
Format:Hardcover
I really enjoyed the book, "The Spiritual Doorway in the Brain: A Neurologist's Search for the God Experience." However, when I sat down to read this book (after returning the aforementioned book to the library) it seemed very familiar. So, I compared the tables of contents of the two on Amazon and they were identical. This volume may contain new information, or it may not. I don't have the other book with me, so I can't say for sure. In any case, the first book was good, but I can't tell the difference between that one and the current one.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
A brilliant and engaging book
27 Aug 2011
Format:Kindle Edition
The God Impulse: A Neurologist Searches for the Spiritual Doorway in the Brain. by Kevin Nelson is a brilliant book written with elegance and clarity. Nelson takes the reader on a journey in which he systematically demystifies many of the beliefs we may hold about 'near-death' and 'out-of-body' experiences. This is not just a theoretical study into what it may mean when we feel we may have come close to God, but Nelson's arguments are informed by solid, comprehensive and empirically-underpinned research.
The God Impulse is a brilliant and thoroughly engaging journey into the 'borders of consciousness'. Highly recommended!
Christine Maingard, Author of 'Think Less Be More:Mental Detox for Everyone'
The God Impulse is a brilliant and thoroughly engaging journey into the 'borders of consciousness'. Highly recommended!
Christine Maingard, Author of 'Think Less Be More:Mental Detox for Everyone'
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