By Diane Ackerman; 300 pages. From the book jacket: "The most ambitious and enlightening work to date from the bestselling author of 'A Natural History of the Senses,' 'An Alchemy of Mind' combines an artist's eye with a scientist's erudition to illuminate, as never before, the magic and mysteries of the human mind."
It's pretty simple: Understanding the brain better will help you understand your child better. This book makes it easy with short chapters, creative writing, and big concepts cut down to size.
- Engaging, creative writing style
- Makes neurological concepts comprehensible, or at least interesting
- You'll learn things you never imagined about how you think (and imagine)
- Information on memory sheds light on learning and trauma
- Short chapters are helpful if you only have short bits of time to read
- If you like your science straight up, that creative writing style may bug you
- Maybe a little too much information about Ackerman's thoughts and feelings
- The narrative tends to wander around a bit, which not everyone may enjoy
- Although it does have applications to parenting, it's not a parenting book with specific advice
- Chapters:
1. The Enchanted Loom
2. This Island Earth
3. Why We Ask "Why?"
4. The Fibs of Being - 5. Light Breaks Where No Sun Shines
6. The Shape of Thought
7. Inner Space
8. Attention Please - 9. A Passion for Patterns
10. In the Church of the Pines
11. Einstein's Brain
12. The Mind's Eye - 13. What Is a Memory?
14. Reflections in a Gazing Ball
15. Remember What?
16. Remember, I Dream - 17. "Hello," He Lied
18. Traumatic Memories
19. Smell and Memory
20. Introducing the Self - 21. The Other Self
22. Personality
23. "Shall It Be Male or Female? Say the Cells" - 24. Creating Minds
25. The Emotional Climate
26. The Pursuit of Happiness
27. Memory's Accomplice - 28. Metaphors Be With You
29. The Color of Saying
30. Shakespeare on the Brain - 31. Oasis
32. Conscience and Consciousness
33. A Kingdom of Neighbors
34. The Beautiful Captive - Alchemical Symbols
Notes, Addenda, and Afterthoughts
Selected Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Index
I'll admit it, I'm a sucker for popular science books. I hear them call out to me from bookstore shelves. This one jumped into my hands as I was perusing the new nonfiction at the library last year, and it's just the sort of thing I fall for: a casual and enjoyable writing style, subject matter that wanders from the serious to the fun, difficult concepts made at least accessible enough that I can pretend to understand, an author's personal voice guiding me through. It's just like reading for pleasure, but you learn something, too! I'll get sucked in by that every time.
"An Alchemy of Mind" is a fascinating look at how our brains work, and the degree to which what we perceive as hard-and-fast reality is really a fairly malleable mix of sensory perceptions, memory, and guesswork. That can explain a lot about why our children may see and experience things so very differently than we do. In a way, each of us creates his or her own reality, and it seems like the absolute truth. So maybe your kid is really telling the truth when he claims to see or hear or smell or taste or feel things that you don't.
One of the strengths of this book is the way the author shares her own personal experiences and perceptions to illustrate her points. And maybe it's one of the weaknesses, too, because from time to time she's guilty of giving TMI. Fortunately, the chapters are short enough that you can whiz through them ... or skip over them, if need be.
