In a nutshell, this is Johnson’s story about his foray into locating the secrets of the/his human brain (at least per available technology circa 2003) with the ultimate goals of both offering his audience a basic understanding of the chemical nature of mental activity and reframing Freudian thought in the context of a more sophisticated understanding of these processes (positioning the Freudian model as essentially empirical and necessarily metaphorical as a distant precursor to certain technologies at our disposal today).

As horrible as this description might sound, Johnson is typically an engaging writer, so I went for it. I was not disappointed. His narrative follows a series of research “discoveries” such as the “Attention Trainer” neurofeedback helmut, utilized to analyze and possibly treat the omnipresent ADD syndrome (I can’t help but think of Ferris Bueller’s Principal cycling through the suburbs) and the two-foot diameter fMRI tube that enables brain slice imaging to locate neural hot spots as they relate to different mental tasks (sounds most uncomfortable). Discussions of the role of the amygdala and brain chemicals such as oxytocin are articulated through a personalized lens (instilling his fear instinct as 9/11 unfolded blocks away and enabling his wife’s “tending instinct” towards their baby, respectively). It’s all quite interesting and well worth the 30 cent late fee.

He also mentions the Simon Baron-Cohen Autism Quotient Test. If you personally sense a certain social retardation – regardless of phone number memorization skills – I would warn you to refrain from Googling this one. ( )

General Background and Overview
Mind Wide Open is subtitled "Your brain and the neuroscience of everyday life" and that's as good a description of the book as any. Basically, it's a trip through what happens to your brain - including which areas of it process, and what neurochemicals are released - when you're in various emotional and functional states.

Good Stuff
With my general fascination for communication, psychology, and just understanding what makes people tick it's probably no surprise to anyone that I enjoyed this book. Some of it reinforced what I'd learned back when I was doing my psych degree and some of it superceded it (no surprise there either - I kind of have to cringe when I realise my degree was going on 15 years ago now, and there's a frakload of research taken place since then).

Aside from the general subject matter, though, I did enjoy the author's somewhat dry, amused writing voice, and one comment especially stands out in my mind. He was talking about the different parts of your brain that light up under an fMRI when you're doing different kinds of things, and reflecting on the fact that there was a trend a few years back to try and engage 'more of the brain', since only around 10% was in use at any one time. His comment was that *of course* only 10% was in use... if any more was, it would be far too distracting and stop us focussing on what we needed to be most aware of. In fact, he claims, saying our brains would function better if only we used more of them at any one time was like saying that Shakespeare would have been such a better writer if only he'd been able to get all 26 letters of the alphabet into every word he wrote, instead of the paltry few he did use in each. And I have to admit... I'd never thought of it like that!

I also liked the way the author used examples of different states, phobias, associations and memories in his own life to illustrate his general information. And finally, I like that he makes all the information he goes through practical: it's not just about 'hey, here's the area of your brain that lights up when you do x' - there's also a fair amount of 'this is how you can use this principle in practice to help you deal with a phobia, or with depression, etc'

Bad Stuff
Hmmmmm... there's nothing specifically that stands out for me as bad stuff in this book. Perhaps the writing voice is going to annoy some folks, and perhaps the author is a little too convinced that neuroscience is the be-all and end-all that holds all the answers. Additionally, there's a lot that's presented as "what is", rather than "what could be", but I'm not sure if that's a function of writing style, or actually the way the author thinks.

Ratings and Recommendations
I really enjoyed this book, and I'd highly recommend it to folks who are interested in psychology generally. It might also be at least a little helpful for flistmembers who are dealing with depression, control issues and/or phobias in their lives - it's not likely to suddenly give them all the answers they need, but it might well offer other avenues to explore either on their own or along with their current counsellors.

I'm going to give the book an 7.5/10 - a solid read, at least for me, and I hope it will be useful for other people too. ( )

Not as good as Emergence (Steven Johnson's other book).

I'd like to take the 'eyes = mind reading' test that is described in this book.

I'm going through a 'brain' phase.

This book,
"the Man who mistook his wife for a hat",
"Mind Hacks",
and
"On Intelligence" ( )

In ‘Mind wide open’ Stephen Johnson takes us on a personal journey – a journey through modern neuroscience via his very own brain. It is in this personal approach that this book succeeds: the real achievement of ‘Mind wide open’ book is that it is infinitely more accessible than even its most accessible popular science counterparts.

I found ‘Mind wide open’ to be intelligent and challenging, and was only slightly frustrated when I realised I was left with more questions than answers by the end of the final chapter. Everything about this book, which is well researched and very well written, is fascinating. ( )

Johnson sheds some light in the subject of the way our mind works. He covers a lot of subjects and go in a personal journey to meet the most proeminent experts in the field. The result is a book that never stop telling you something amazing or new. And, of course, it is kind of a mythbuster. Some people will be sad to know that somethings that they thought was magic is just biochemistry. Beatiful and smart. ( )