7 1/2 Lessons About the Brain

 Lisa Feldman Barrett's 7 1/2 Lessons About the Brain is a slim little volume, and timely (more on that in a minute); probably if you haven't spent the last 3-4 years reading all of the neuroscience you could get your hands on, it's more interesting and more informative that what I may make it seem because I have read so much on the brain these past few years.

That said, it's well-written, and owing to the structure (each lesson is a chapter) and clean, concise writing, it's a fairly quick read. Having been published in 2020, the science is certainly the leading edge of what neurologists and others know; I'm heartened to read that both the resiliency and plasticity of the brain are ever-greater than has been understood in the past (which was ever-greater than previously thought, which was ever-greater, and so you get the idea). 

In terms of getting the most out of plasticity, Feldman Barrett details the neurological advantages of acculturation, which is "an extreme version of plasticity." As acculturation occurs when we are thrust into unfamiliar cultures and most respond to even the most basic interactions - such as how to greet one another, or navigating personal space and hand gestures - on the fly, it's fair to say that Feldman Barrett makes the case that travel is neurologically helpful. The book does not include any studies on the brains structures of those who have experienced such acculturation as compared to those who have not - and such studies may not even exist - but it doesn't seem a bridge too far to imagine that they exist....and that such differences may further explain the challenges various groups of people have in understanding one another.

Speaking of which..... I mentioned the "timeliness" of this book: Feldman Barrett speaks to the neurological underpinning of why humans prefer to exist in an echo chamber, the advantages and disadvantages of which are only too apparent these days, but - in no small part because of how our brains are wired - increasingly difficult to escape. As Feldman Barrett notes, "your nervous system is bound up with the behavior of other humans, for better or for worse." 

It is in the closing pages that she strikes at the heart of the matter, which is the ability of the collective mind to create and shape social reality. "Social reality may be one of our greatest achievements but it's also a weapon we can wield against each other. It is vulnerable to being manipulated. Democracy itself is social reality." Truer words...