Book Review: Brain Bugs: By Dean Buonomano

Brain bugs was an interesting listen for me because it was shockingly close to my entire psychology education from the University of Lethbridge. My degree focused on neuroscience, but included ethology ( the behavior of animals in their natural environment ), behavioral psychology ( focused on classical and operant conditioning ), cognitive psychology ( the psychology of how thinking as it influences perception and behavior ), and social psychology ( the psychology of how the group influences the perception and behavior of individuals within the group ).

But what was almost spooky was that a number of people in the U of L faculty who were some of the top authorities in the world in specific subsets of psychology discussed in this book. It was quite a stroll down memory lane of my education. I received B.Sc. in psychology, which is my only formal post secondary credential about 23 years ago.

Most famously, Dr. Don Reid was an expert witness for the defense in the Vance vs. Judas Priest trial. The plaintiffs claimed " backmasking " caused their son James Vance to attempt suicide because of "backward speech" in Judas Priest's music.

Years after that trial when I was Dr. Reid's student, he had expressed to me how convinced the judge seemed to be that subliminal backmasking might have actually been the cause of James Vance's attempted suicide.

As it relates to this book though, Don Reid's expertise included the reliability of eyewitness testimony, the susceptibility / inevitability of memory distortion upon recall, and the highly questionable nature of " repressed " memories. All three phenomena are related to one another. This book touched upon most of the above topics with the same, and almost every single reference I'd learned while in university.

I don't think I've ever heard or read a book that focused on neuroscience speaks much, if at all about ethology, but this one did. I hadn't heard the names Lorenz and Tinburgen since I was a student. The author's choice to go into ethology added a lot of breadth and context to the topic of brain bugs like heuristics / biases, evolutionary hacks and the many behaviors we share with other animals.

Finally, Dr. Ian Whishaw and Dr. Brian Kolb were pioneers in the area of neuroplasticity which this book goes into fairly deeply considering that it was written for a popular audience.

The one area he missed that I think should have been included was how myelination of axons is also a big part of neuroplasticity not often enough mentioned. I didn't actually learn about it at all during university, but from Daniel Coyle's excellent book The Talent Code.

This book is not an easy listen, especially if you don't know much about psychology or neuroscience. After this book you'll probably know more about the topics covered than most people who THINK they're experts;-)

The author sometimes goes pretty deep into the weeds, even for a neuroscience geek like me. It's the first popular book I've seen that went into the function of NMDA, talked about inhibitory neurons and a number of other things you may not have heard of, and probably don't care about;-)-

All that said, it's probably the best,? popular book on neuroscience that goes deep enough to make the listener aware it's a far more complex topic than neuroscience fakers like Simon Sinek make it out to be.

I'm gonna be honest, though Sinek has some really good ideas, his neuroscientific knowledge as expressed in the TED talk that made his career is about as deep as a brain slice is thick, which is to say a small fraction of a millimeter to allow light to pass through easily for microscopy. A millimeter is about the thickness of an American dime. The sum total of Simon Sinek's knowledge of neuroscience then, is just slightly more than that of your family pet's knowledge of the same topic;-)

Neuroscience has been having a moment in popular culture and business the last few years. Unfortunately, but predictably, it's caused a lot of lay people to mistake themselves as lay experts. They've heard of dopamine and its association to addiction, or serotonin and it's association with pleasure, liking and empathy. This book will disabuse such people of their delusions of expertise.

If you want a deeper understanding about the complexity of modern neuroscience and psychology as it relates to topics discussed in business and popular culture, this is the book to do that.

It relates neuroscience and psychology to biases, behavioral economics, choice architecture, memory, social influence in advertising and propaganda and many more topics that have finally reached the popular consciousness.

Don't be surprised if it challenges you, leaves you a bit humbled, and laughing ( on the inside ) at people who've merely watched Sinek's ( very, or wholly ) unsubstantiated, oversimplified OPINION of neuroscience, and yet think they're " knowledgeable ".

tim #bgreen??

P.S. Which Topics in Business Science Would You Like to Learn More About?

P.P.S. My Next Article: Put?Your Money, or Skills Where Your Mouth Is