Mind Wide Open: Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life

By Steven Johnson

Book Overview

In this nationally bestselling, compulsively readable account of what makes brain science a vital component of people's quest to know themselves, acclaimed science writer Steven Johnson subjects his own brain to a battery of tests to find out what's really going on inside. He asks:
How do we "read" other people?
What is the neurochemistry behind love and sex?
What does it mean that the brain is teeming with powerful chemicals closely related to recreational drugs?
Why does music move us to tears?
Where do breakthrough ideas come from?
Johnson answers these and many more questions arising from the events of our everyday lives. You do not have to be a neuroscientist to wonder, for example, why do you smile? And why do you sometimes smile inappropriately, even if you don't want to? How do others read your inappropriate smile? How does such interplay occur neurochemically, and what, if anything, can you do about it?
Fascinating and rewarding, Mind Wide Open speaks to brain buffs, self-obsessed neurotics, barstool psychologists, mystified parents, grumpy spouses, exasperated managers, and anyone who enjoys speculating and gossiping about the motivations and behaviors of other human beings. Steven Johnson shows us the transformative power of understanding brain science and offers new modes of introspection and tools for better parenting, better relationships, and better living.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743241665
• ISBN13: 9780743241663
• Release Date: May 2005
• Publisher: Scribner Book Company
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.7" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

A fun read

Mind Wide Open is a personal narrative of author Steven Johnson's journey to better understand himself and others by educating himself about science behind human behavior. Johnson begins each chapter with an anecdote or hypothetical situation to introduce a new topic and then proceeds to detail his quest to understand the topic, and shares with the reader what he learned. In one chapter, Johnson explores the field of neurofeedback. Neurofeedback employs a device called an electroencephalogram, which, as Johnson explains, measures the frequency of electromagnetic pulses generated by the brain. These frequencies correspond to different states of consciousness. Johnson writes about his experience with borderline-New-Agey neurofeedback specialists who have created some unique neurofeedback applications. During a visit with one such specialist, Johnson plays a computer game in which he has to lower his "theta wave levels" by remaining in a very attentive state in order to pedal a virtual bicycle. He then explains the possible therapeutic potential of such an application: if children with ADD/ADHD practice this game, they may be able to hone their attention skills to the point where medication is unnecessary. In the introduction, Johnson explains that he used a "long-decay test" to determine which topics he would include in his book. To pass the test, he explains, a particular topic or insight must "reverberate for weeks or months after you've first encountered it; it has to pop up in conversation or in moments of self-reflection." Mind Wide Open, compared to rest of the popular science genre, is relatively non-technical, and therefore might disappoint a reader looking for hard science. Regardless, every piece of information in this fun and revealing book passes the long-decay test with flying colors. Highly recommended.

A remarkable popular science writer, but gets carried away.

Johnson is a remarkable popular science writer, with a talent for language and metaphor comparable to that of a very good novelist. He is also very bright, objective, personable and does his research well. Even when I was familiar with a particular subject area, I learned a lot or understood things better. While my background is better than some, this is a book accessible to all. Johnson's objective for "Mind Wide Open" is to help the reader live a better life by providing the kind of understanding that leads to more aware self-examination - not the usual kind of objective for a popular science work. I believe this objective, as well as Johnson's own enthusiasms, may have led him a little astray. The chapters I liked least were on bio-feedback (Johnson is on the board of a bio-feedback company, as I learned from one of his footnotes), and functional brain imaging. Both chapters centered on Johnson's personal experiences, not as a way to explain science, as elsewhere, but as some kind of personal adventure which is supposed to demonstrate the potential of these tools for generating self-awareness. The rest of the book is so interesting, I really begrudge the loss of what could have been in 2 additional chapters. Mind Wide Open is particularly strong in its discussion of memory and emotions (fear, love) and on the role of the body's owns drugs, which cocaine and the like mimic. As part of his summing up, Johnson has a wonderful discussion of how Freud can be updated to provide a modern theory of psychology.

A User Manual for the Brain

This delightfully well written book uses everyday English to explain an incredibly complicated subject. In his introduction, Johnson states the obvious - that most Neuroscience books assume a certain baseline knowledge of the brain which your average person lacks. He wants this to be an approachable book, so he keeps the technical terms to a minimum, always explaining them first and using real world examples of how they apply. Many scientists would criticize his methods - namely, using himself as his primary test subject. If he were trying to prove new science rather than explain information to a new audience, I would agree. Instead, I found his quest to understand the inner workings of his own brain fascinating. I found myself wondering what a fMRI would reveal about me, wondering what I'd learn from neurofeedback, wanting to try the various attention tests he describes, and wanting desperately to play computer games controlled by my own brain waves. In addition to being well written, I find this book well organized. Johnson starts with a broad introduction, a sort of guided tour of the brain. He then breaks the brain up into numerous modules, explains how those modules work individually and more important, how they work in concert with other brain modules. The end result is incredibly complex without any individual stops on the tour being overwhelming. Unlike many pop science books, he doesn't try to lump people into distinct categories, instead opting to present everything as a set of overlapping spectrums. He furthermore suggests you have the power to change where you are on spectrums through conscious choice. Moving from one end to another might be wishful thinking, but becoming a little more this or a little less that just requires determination and work. For me, the most significant parts of the book were the explanations of the autism spectrum and the facial expression reading skills. Johnson warns that after you learn a little about these, you'll find yourself analyzing your friends and family. That's very true. For the first time, I found myself capable of understanding and even enjoying the company of someone I know with Aspeger's. A little context made a world of difference. If you're not familiar with neuroscience, this book can have a real impact on how you perceive people around you - in my opinion, for the better. I don't casually pick up books on neuroscience, so I was pleasantly surprised by just how good this one is. It's one I know I'll read again. I can't recommend it enough.

Open wide the mind's black box.

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

So Many Openings

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.