The Idiot Brain

By Dean Burnett

Guardian Books and Faber & Faber ISBN 978-1-78335-081-0 2016 paperback £12.99

 

image  I recommend this book to those of you not interested in neuroscience and to those who are and would like an easy to read up-to-date reference.

The author’s experience of stand-up comedy shows through but does not detract from the underlying facts. He explains concepts in an entertaining way that is easy to absorb.

Not only will you understand but you will be able to explain to clients the way their brains appear to be sabotaging their life.

The book's publishers summed up the key aspects rather neatly:

"Why do you lose arguments with people who know MUCH LESS than you?

"Why can you recognize that woman, from that thing...but can't remember her name?

"And why, after your last break-up, did you find yourself in the fetal position on the sofa for days, moving only to wipe the snot and tears haphazardly from your face?

"Here's why: the idiot brain."

You may know the author as the writer of the Guardian’s “brain flapping” blog. I know him better as my course director at Cardiff University’s medical school.

Elwyn Griffiths May 2017