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Rating: 
Summary: Don't Stop There!
Review: A delight and a disappointment. Steven Johnson opens the door (briefly) to many of the brain's multi-level functions and then closes it before the reader can fully grasp the significance and inter-relation of the areas and functions. True, the end-papers do help but I'm still left than more questions than an answers. Maybe it's really a "teaser" for the sequel.
Still, I would recommend it for anyone like myself who is interested in the how the brain functions but doesn't have a Phd in the neurosciences.
Rating: 
Summary: Open wide the mind's black box.
Review: In MIND WIDE OPEN, Steven Johnson gives new meaning to the phrase, "you ought to have your head examined." Through his guided journey into the depths of the human brain, he not only reveals how cutting-edge neuroscience presents us with a new set of tools for understanding our minds (p. 184), but he also reveals how a more informed understanding of the "brain's internal architecture" can change the ways we think about ourselves (p. 8) in post-Freudian ways (pp. 185-214). Along the way, Johnson submits himself to the latest in neurological testing techniques and gadgetry--empathy tests, neurofeedback, and an fMRI scan, for instance--sharing his resulting insights about emotions, memories and consciousness. He demonstrates how the brain works more like "an orchestra than a soloist" through the chemical and electrical interactions resulting in memory, fear, love, and alertness.On the subject of chemicals, in Chapter 5, "The Hormones Talking," Johnson reveals that the pleasure drugs otherwise found "in a dime bag or a coke spoon"--heroin, morphine, codeine--occur naturally in the brain (p. 136). "Your brain is nothing but drugs," Johnson writes; "right now, as you read these words, you are under the influence of chemicals, molecularly speaking, almost indistinguishable from drugs that could get you arrested if you consumed them openly in a public place." Reading MIND WIDE OPEN will not only stimulate and delight your gray matter, it will cause you to rethink your very thinking process. G. Merritt
Rating:
Summary: So Many Openings
Review: Mind Wide Open is a remarkable, very entertaining, and complex read. This is not a 'science' book; nor is it a self-help manual. It is about all of us and each of us; about the human condition that we experience each moment, day, and life. It is a precise expose of the marriage between our mind and our soul, told in the voice of discovery. Perhaps the best testimony that I can give is this: as I read Mind Wide Open, I could not stop thinking about the many and very different people that I wanted to recommend it to. Whether you are a poet or a parent, a teacher or a tradesman, this book will enthrall you. Part of this is the the author's style. Johnson is funny, personal, and earnest. He alternates between sharing his own musings and vulnerablities and recounting what he has carefully learned and experienced. When you read this book, you may feel the astonishing sensations that I did; your mind thinking about your mind within the context of your own experience and Johnson's perspectives. This was a visceral experience for me. As much as Mind Wide Open will stimulate you, it is also a book that begs to be read more than once. Rarely do I read a book that I want to completely re-read again; I suspect that many others will feel the same. I must admit to having scant, if any, interest in 'brain science' before reading this book. That has changed. What lies in our head not only influences our thinking; it catalogues our evolution and our pursuit of life's meaning. Mind Wide Open is a book that allows the reader to understand him/herself in ways that we have never explored before. This is a superb book. I highly enjoyed it, I look forward to enjoying it again, and I give it my highest recommendation.
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