The Second Brain: The Scientific Basis of Gut Instinct & a Groundbreaking New Understanding of Nervous Disorders of the Stomach & Intest

by Michael D. Gershon

Book Overview

"Persuasive, impassioned. . . hopeful news for those] suffering from functional bowel disease." -- New York Times Book Review

Dr. Michael Gershon's groundbreaking book fills the gap between what you need to know--and what your doctor has time to tell you.

Dr. Michael Gershon has devoted his career to understanding the human bowel (the stomach, esophagus, small intestine, and colon). His thirty years...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060930721
• ISBN13: 9780060930721
• Release Date: November 1999
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.57 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

The Second Brain

If you are planning to be a student of medicine or neuro-psychology, then you seriously might start with this book. Gershon shares his 30 years of research of the gut and its enteric nervous system in a detailed story account, which is technical but very readable to the interested student. It may not be on your official prerequisite reading list given to you by the college you are about to attend, but trust us and read it anyway because it deserves to be for its revolutionary content. Until his research in this book revealed that the gut has nerve cells that act as a second brain, the gut went for too long unrecognized as capable of being an independent functioning organism, and its importance in both medical health as well as psychological health had taken a back seat to the head brain. Therefore, we highly recommend this groundbreaking book.

Learning Never Ends

This book deserves and needs careful, attentive reading. It's a stunning exposition of relatively ignored fundamental physical processes.

Step-by-step research overview

I'm extremly glad I've read this book before attending medical school. The author provides a textbook quality overview of the enteric nervous system in so many pages without boring or confusing the reader in the slightest bit. I loved this book and wish there were more neurobiologist authors out there like him.

Intricate,highly recommended story of medical research

Gershon's book is really two books in one: a memoir or exposition of all that is involved in medical research (including the politics), and a detailed explanation of the neuroscience and neurochemistry of the enteric nervous system (e.g., digestive tract). This is not a simple book to read -- it takes concentration, and I certainly had my highlighter out to draw attention to several terms or ideas I wanted to recall. The narrative can get fairly scientific, but to add to your understanding the author uses commonplace allegories or diagrams -- and just when it starts to get too "heavy", he gives you a break by turning autobiographical, telling stories about his research community that are very interesting. This isn't a textbook, but rather a lengthy exposition on a man's search for scientific truth. I am a scientist myself and often wonder what draws an individual to a focused "obsession" with a single idea, and Gershon in his pursuit of knowledge through experimentation and conceptualization gave me insights into one type of scientific mind. The digestive system, via Gershon's work, is the source of neurotransmitters, so there is a substantial amount of information here for anyone interested in neurology, neuroscience, psychiatry, and of course the behavior of the digestive tract. This is not a book for anyone who has a digestive problem who wants a cure -- it is a book for understanding digestion and/or the nervous system. However, if you are interested in deep science, this is one of the best written and thorough books I've read.

Fascinating read. Plenty of human interest & bio science

From the author who founded neurogastroenterology. Gershon gets pretty technical, but even a layman (like me) is drawn into his interesting subject. The book chronicles his thirty years of research into the "second brain": the independent nerve mass literally in the gut. Probably most doctors today aren't aware of this whole type of nervous system even though its presence was discovered decades ago. (This is why digestion is not affected by spinal injuries.) Somehow this body of knowledge was forgotton by medicine. 'Eclipsed' is the word the author uses. Gershon "rediscovered" the existence of the second brain and began doing research in the 1960s about the affect of neurotransmitters (like serotonin) and their effect on this bowel brain. In the process of his narrative he explains how different chemicals (like Prozac, LSD, adrenaline, acetylcholine, puffer fish toxin, etc) can affect the brain and the sympathetic and peripheral nervous systems. He also discusses diseases like Alzheimer's, etc. The best part of the book is the author's personal family stories which he weaves into his narration. I was very touched by the story of his mother's death from a bleeding ulcer, surgery and subsequent stroke, and Alzheimers. The only problem with the book is that it is at once too long and too short. Too long because sometimes it gets too technical and was a little hard for me to stay interested and excited. Too short because in spite of covering thirty years of research the story is only a prologue. It's part one and part two remains in the future. What are the implications of the second brain? Will knowledge of how it works help cure diseases? We begin with a monumental reawakening. A re-acknowledgement that the second brain is there. What it means we still don't yet know. We have learned that ulcers are caused by viruses. That some depression may be depression of the bowel brain. That Alzheimers effects both brains. But we don't know if problems with intra-brain communication can cause illness. Have we been treating the wrong brain? Can autism and Parkinson's disease be better treated by concentrating on the gut brain? So much promise for the future, yet still a lack of answers. I finished the book feeling a little incomplete.