Sebastian Seung, a dynamic young professor at MIT, is at the forefront of a revolution in neuroscience. He believes that our identity lies not in our genes, but in the connections between our brain cells—our own particular wiring. His forthcoming book, CONNECTOME: How the Brain’s Wiring Makes Us Who We Are, charts this bold and thrilling quest to finally understand the brain—and along with it our mental afflictions, from depression to autism.
Seung and a dedicated group of researchers are leading the effort to map these connections, neuron by neuron, synapse by synapse. It is a monumental effort—the scientific equivalent of climbing Mount Everest—but if they succeed, they will uncover the basis of personality, identity, intelligence, memory, and perhaps disorders such as autism and schizophrenia. Seung explains how this new map of a human “connectome” might even enable us to “upload” our brains into a computer, making us effectively immortal.
CONNECTOME is a mind-bending adventure story, told with great passion and authority. It presents a daring scientific and technological vision for at last understanding what makes us who we are, both as individuals and as a species.
I parked myself in my recliner for many days reading through this book. I finished reading it, and surprisingly to me (as I prefer fiction books) I really loved it. Probably because Sebastian Seung writes it in such a way that is understandable to the average reader. Seung’s book gave me more insights on how our brains really work, and that it is even far more complex than we actually realize.
With everyday analogies and plenty of humor, Seung rehashes some basic high school biology and then expounds on that. It was all very interesting to me especially the chapter that focused on nurture vs. nature.
Despite the fact that it is written more like a novel than like a science textbook, it’s still quite ‘meaty’ and is a lot to take in. I do recommend it highly though if you’re curious about how our ‘connectome’ makes us who we are – while you may not understand it all, it gives a great picture on how scientists in the past, present and future are trying to decipher that organ that makes you….. YOU.
I was given access to an e-book copy of CONNECTOME for review purposes.
Neat book, I often wonder how it is that some people can be so happy all the time or why it is that you feel as if its so challenging to lift your spirits even though there are some many great things about your life? I guess it could be because of the way our brains are wired.
Thanks for the review. I have recently been searching for information on this topic for a paper and this is the best I have came upon until now. I think I’ll pick up a copy as a resource.