October 2009: Phantoms in the Brain (Ramachandran and Blakeslee)

Post date: Jan 07, 2010 11:59:40 PM

Nine stalwart readers gathered at Betsey’s on October 18, 2009 to discuss Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind by V.S. Ramachandran and Sandra Blakeslee. Class of 1946 to 2004 and every decade in between were represented, some had finished the book, others read some, and all brains engaged to discuss what we know about neurology, language, biology.

People had enjoyed the anecdotes that illustrated neurological observations and the science behind them, and especially Ramachandran’s curiosity about why things happened, which led him and his research team to explore really creative ways to test, observe, measure, and help heal – especially people with phantom limb pain. After the discussion, Nancy was inspired to go back and read the book more thoroughly, given the positive feedback by most of the group!

Those who had read previous book club selections Musicophilia, and/or How the Mind Works agreed that having read one book on the brain helps with the next. Your first neuroscience book is the hardest.

Perhaps we should all brush up on basic biology before we read further on the topic of neurology, or maybe get a science professor to speak at our annual spring faculty speaker event? Several books were suggested on this and related topics; perhaps we will return to them after one more, easier-to-digest “brain book” followed by a cycle of novels.

Additional reading related to the brain, if you're interested:

• • This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession by Daniel J. Levitin (2006) – reportedly more engaging than the acks book we read in September, about how our brains process chords, etc. by Daniel J. Levitin (2006) – reportedly more engaging than the acks book we read in September, about how our brains process chords, etc.

  • The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker (1994) – organization of language in our brain

  • The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker (2003) – disputing the idea, saying that biology also plays a part in defining who and how we are