The human brain! It’s amazing! A master conductor of our emotional symphonies, a supercomputer of intelligence, a treasure inside the “temple” of the skull, where it gloriously shimmers “vivid, vital, jewel-like.” I mean, is it any wonder we’re such a special species?
Sorry: I had to get that out of my system. Books built on hyperbole seem to bring out the worst in me. And “Cerebral Entanglements,” a new book by the surgeon and medical consultant Allan J. Hamilton, is so breathlessly excited about our brains and how they work, about the dazzle of new insights and technologies, that occasionally this reader felt compelled to take a break and fan herself.
On the other hand, if you’re the kind of person who enjoys hearing the brain described as “the holy of holies,” the chemistry of human relationships as “finding treasure on the map of love” and happiness as “a good wine,” then disregard my reaction.
Obviously, I’m not that kind of person. Still, in the interest of fairness, I’ll also tell you that Hamilton’s tour of all things brain does have its charms and virtues: a friendly writing style, a core of moral decency and a wide-ranging wealth of research to back up his points.
“Cerebral Entanglements” sprawls across many different fields that investigate how we (and our busy brains) engage with the world: neuroscience, endocrinology, history, culture, psychology, moral philosophy — well, you get the idea. New technologies allow us to visually illuminate the brain as it encounters myriad issues and challenges. This means, Hamilton argues, that we are the “first generation to be able to image and quantify human thought” — an idea to justify some exuberance, you might say — and in the 300-odd pages of his book, he does his best not to miss a single thought of importance.
Of this bounty, I particularly liked his compassionate exploration of the way children’s brains are altered by trauma and neglect. Hamilton underlines the impact of such experiences by citing studies that show a negative effect even on fetal development if a pregnant woman is exposed to violence. There’s an insightful look at what brain imaging and neurochemistry research has shown us about how grief, loss and depression can reshape the brain, changing both its physical structure and chemical function.
The book includes a series of functional magnetic resonance imaging (f.M.R.I.) depictions of the brain as it responds to situations ranging from stress to injury. These are fascinating and powerful. I studied and restudied one of a patient suffering from PTSD, the image red as a bomb on a timer, lit by brain regions sparking with fear and rage.
But despite such examples — or as Hamilton puts it, such “heady stuff” — I did not find myself swept away by his assurance that we are now drivers at the wheel of the brain car, so to speak. When he writes that the brain is “the master editor of reality,” I’m not sure exactly what he means. Similarly, when he proposes that imaging technology now allows us to “see wisdom’s shape and form,” it’s unclear to me that we’ve learned how to define wisdom, to see it clearly or even to practice it in a meaningful way.
Although Hamilton is prone to such sweeping statements, he also occasionally admits some limits. In a section on the subconscious, he acknowledges that “the brain rarely works the way we think it does or should.” Later, while examining the mind-body connection, he writes, “We think we have sound logical explanations about the way the brain should be organized but we are almost always wrong.”
Yes, the human brain is beautiful, remarkable and powerful. And it’s true that researchers have brought us closer than ever to mapping its structure, deciphering the chemistry and electrical signals that zing through our nervous systems, helping us better understand what drives human behaviors at their best and worst. But the brain has yet to yield all its mysteries.
In his conclusion, Hamilton expresses the hope we can use our hard-acquired knowledge of the human self to reinforce our more compassionate behaviors, and, possibly, bring more kindness to a world that desperately needs it. This reviewer, cranky as she may be, hopes for the same.
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