The Emerging Mind – A brain stimulus

Proving to be a creature that wonders at wondering, the study of development of brain and its functioning is becoming one of the most interesting areas of research. The Emerging Mind provides us with a lucid introduction to the challenging field of neuroscience. It is a five segment compilation of the 2003 Reith lecture series given by Dr.V.S.Ramachandran, a neurologist renowned for his work in the fields of behavioral neurology and psychophysics.
It begins with the first part,The Phantoms in the brain, deals with understanding of the normal brain functioning by looking at neurological oddities. Terming the scientific revolutions as upheavals in human thoughts this part traces the basics of brain anatomy and throws light on a few interesting disorders like Prosopognosia (face blindness), phantom limbs in the case of amputees, the Capgras syndrome ( when the wired link between vision and emotion is cut). The miracles involved in perceiving things is the topic of Seeing is Believing. Abnormalities like the neglect syndrome (that leads to cloudiness on the left side when the right parietal lobe is damaged) help us understand the crucial events of visual processing. The concept of neuroaesthetics forms the basis of The Artful Brain. Purple number and Sharp Cheese , briefs about Synasthesia (mingling of the senses) – wherein cross activation of the colour and the number areas take place. The New Philosophy called Neuroscience tells us that there are branches like neurocriminology and neurojurisprudence, on the brink of development. The importance of brain imaging studies like PET, MRI, fMR and scalp EEG potential has been highlighted.
The author shows how simple scientific experiments prove to be effective solutions for daunting problems. The thought process involved in decoding the problem amazes the reader and thus the book hooks anyone reasonably interested in this field. It truly exemplifies the following principle formulated by Lenin…
“The popular writer leads his reader towards profound thoughts, towards profound study, proceeding from simple and generally known facts; with the aid of simple arguments or striking examples he shows the main conclusions to be drawn from those facts and arouses in the mind of the thinking reader ever newer questions. The popular writer does not presuppose a reader that does not think, that cannot or does not wish to think; on the contrary, he assumes in the undeveloped reader a serious intention to use his head and aids him in his serious and difficult work, leads him, helps him over his first steps, and teaches him to go forward independently.”

P.S : Thank you, Mr.Editor...