Understanding Your Brain

MIDDLE UPWARDS The thing about your brain is that it's the only one you've got or ever will have, and you need to use it to examine itself. Navel-gazing is simple by comparison so any book that's not hopelessly trivial or frantically technical is bound to be worth inspection. Inspection is well rewarded here, for although trivia abound - this is Usborne, after all - their purpose is serious and effective as they characterise facts and thereby enhance their memorability. After a brief introduction to cerebral and neural anatomy, we get onto brain function, the acquisition of learning, the nature of intelligence and perception, memory processes and how to develop them, and the hypothalamic homeostat. A look at altered brain function starts with mental illness (a really helpful synopsis of schizophrenia here) and goes on to psychotropic drugs, psychokinesis and hypnotism. The whole thing is presented with an authoritative lightness of touch which will at once satisfy immediate curiosity and stimulate further inquiry. Far from soporific, this should fill a yawning gap on library shelves.