Books on brain

by truthbetold Sun Sep 07, 2014 8:00 am

Thanks for your suggestions, BW and Max. Bought V Ramachandran's book.

by Impedimenta Sun Sep 07, 2014 9:25 am

i want to grow up and start reading something other than thrillers and mysteries, non fiction perhaps :-) anyway, a few months back, someone at work was talking about one of his books, not sure of the title but i did a Google search and found four titles. I am curious now. which one are you talking about?

Also, anyone here has anything good or bad to say about audio books? i have the kindle fire and thinking about the Audible app but have never tried an audio book. TIA.

by truthbetold Sun Sep 07, 2014 10:13 am

Impy,

Phantoms in the brain: ....

by michelle2 Sun Sep 07, 2014 12:43 pm

Impedimenta wrote:i want to grow up and start reading something other than thrillers and mysteries, non fiction perhaps :-) anyway, a few months back, someone at work was talking about one of his books, not sure of the title but i did a Google search and found four titles. I am curious now. which one are you talking about?

Also, anyone here has anything good or bad to say about audio books? i have the kindle fire and thinking about the Audible app but have never tried an audio book. TIA.

"how the mind works" by steven pinker. he has written several other popular, i.e. non-technical, books, the latest being "the better angels of our nature." i bought his "the language instinct" for my daughter when she was ten. pinker is a professor of psychology at harvard u. his special field is psycholinguistics.

pinker is a psychologist who studies the normal human mind, while viLayanoor ramachandran is a medical doctor (stanley medical college, madras) and psychologist (ph.d., cambridge u) who most often studies the malfunctioning human brain to also extend his inferences to the normal human brain. ramachandran is on the faculty of u.c., san diego.

the book i'm reading now: "the smartest kids in the world" (and how they got that way) by amanda ripley. it's in my nook hd. the how-they-got-that-way part is a bit of an exaggeration. no one really knows, but i strongly believe that 70% of "how they get that way" happens in the first three years.

by michelle2 Sun Sep 07, 2014 12:51 pm

truthbetold wrote:Thanks for your suggestions, BW and Max. Bought V Ramachandran's book.

i'm glad people are reading viLayanoor ramachandran's books. if i remember correctly, i had posted about them - the books, that is - and ramachandran, at old sulekha.

by Kris Sun Sep 07, 2014 12:59 pm

Impedimenta wrote:i want to grow up and start reading something other than thrillers and mysteries, non fiction perhaps :-) anyway, a few months back, someone at work was talking about one of his books, not sure of the title but i did a Google search and found four titles. I am curious now. which one are you talking about?

Also, anyone here has anything good or bad to say about audio books? i have the kindle fire and thinking about the Audible app but have never tried an audio book. TIA.

1) Growing up is vastly overrated.

Mozart's Brain and the Fighter Pilot by Restak. He is a neurospsychiatrist.

This is a book I picked up because it has two of my favorite themes. It is interesting to the extent I have read it but somewhat on the dry side. Will post more names if I can recall. I really need to do more reading and less SUCHing.

If you are up for some heavy duty stuff, Goedel Escher Bach by Hofstadter (sp.?). This is about self reference and draws from three different areas: mathematics, art and music. The Bach's stuff was the most fascinating for me. I probably read about a third of it not, jumping from part to part at random. One of these days I will get around to finishing it.

by michelle2 Sun Sep 07, 2014 1:00 pm

i hate to post in this badly-titled thread; the title should be "books on the brain," not "books on brain."

by Guest Sun Sep 07, 2014 1:06 pm

michelle2 wrote:i hate to post in this badly-titled thread; the title should be "books on the brain," not "books on brain."

Is it about the brain or the mind?

by Marathadi-Saamiyaar Sun Sep 07, 2014 1:42 pm

Kris wrote:
Impedimenta wrote:i want to grow up and start reading something other than thrillers and mysteries, non fiction perhaps :-) anyway, a few months back, someone at work was talking about one of his books, not sure of the title but i did a Google search and found four titles. I am curious now. which one are you talking about?

Also, anyone here has anything good or bad to say about audio books? i have the kindle fire and thinking about the Audible app but have never tried an audio book. TIA.
1) Growing up is vastly overrated.

Mozart's Brain and the Fighter Pilot by Restak. He is a neurospsychiatrist.

This is a book I picked up because it has two of my favorite themes. It is interesting to the extent I have read it but somewhat on the dry side. Will post more names if I can recall. I really need to do more reading and less SUCHing.

If you are up for some heavy duty stuff, Goedel Escher Bach by Hofstadter (sp.?). This is about self reference and draws from three different areas: mathematics, art and music. The Bach's stuff was the most fascinating for me. I probably read about a third of it not, jumping from part to part at random. One of these days I will get around to finishing it.

Stop reading such irrelevant books on Company time, family time, and SuCH time.

by michelle2 Sun Sep 07, 2014 1:47 pm

Impedimenta wrote:i want to grow up and start reading something other than thrillers and mysteries, non fiction perhaps :-) anyway, a few months back, someone at work was talking about one of his books, not sure of the title but i did a Google search and found four titles. I am curious now. which one are you talking about?

Also, anyone here has anything good or bad to say about audio books? i have the kindle fire and thinking about the Audible app but have never tried an audio book. TIA.

if you have the interest and the patience, read:

"poor economics" (a radical rethinking of the way to fight global poverty), by abhijit banerjee and esther duflo.

both are professors of economics at m.i.t. duflo is/was a macarthur fellow. much of their work has been in india. duflo, who is french, also knows india well. the book contains surprising and interesting results based on the authors' assessment of policies and interventions for economic development, using randomiized controlled trials/testing.

they are the founders, along with senthil mullainathan (currently professor of economics at harvard u) of Poverty Action Lab, which is funded by a saudi arabian called abdulateef jameel.

by Guest Sun Sep 07, 2014 1:47 pm

Kris wrote: I really need to do more reading and less SUCHing.

This is my mom's advice before leaving for India y'day. 'Minimize going to those forums and read books instead.' She's a voracious reader herself. Good advice. I got to follow that.

by Guest Sun Sep 07, 2014 1:54 pm

never thought of reading an entire book on brain. Usually make do with random articles or write-ups here and there. That way you are always reading what's the latest.

by truthbetold Sun Sep 07, 2014 6:35 pm

michelle2 wrote:i hate to post in this badly-titled thread; the title should be "books on the brain," not "books on brain."

You self loathing old fart, is there any thing you don't hate?

by bw Sun Sep 07, 2014 10:48 pm

michelle2 wrote:

the book i'm reading now: "the smartest kids in the world" (and how they got that way) by amanda ripley. it's in my nook hd. the how-they-got-that-way part is a bit of an exaggeration. no one really knows, but i strongly believe that 70% of "how they get that way" happens in the first three years.

isn't this book a comparison of school systems across various countries? does it also address other factors? thanks.

by Impedimenta Mon Sep 08, 2014 2:14 pm

Thanks a lot to michelle2 and Kris for the book recommendations. I did order "how the mind works" from amazon. I will see how that goes.

by michelle2 Mon Sep 08, 2014 3:23 pm

bw wrote:
michelle2 wrote:

the book i'm reading now: "the smartest kids in the world" (and how they got that way) by amanda ripley. it's in my nook hd. the how-they-got-that-way part is a bit of an exaggeration. no one really knows, but i strongly believe that 70% of "how they get that way" happens in the first three years.

isn't this book a comparison of school systems across various countries? does it also address other factors? thanks.

yes. i may have given the wrong impression with the second part of my last sentence above. the book is about school education in entire countries, with focus on finland, korea, and poland, and what makes them different from the u.s.

countries are assessed on the basis of the PISA (program for international student assessment) test administered to (hundreds of?) thousands of students in countries around the world. the test is intended to assess students' abilities in critical thinking, the solving of problems, and communication, not in memorizing information.

it's about educational policy and effectiveness, not about how to make an individual student smarter. one could use the lessons learnt to informally assess, by comparison, the quality of school districts and private schools in the u.s.

i've read only about 70% of the book. i may write a summary or review of it when i've finished reading it.

by bw Mon Sep 08, 2014 6:06 pm

michelle2 wrote:
bw wrote:
michelle2 wrote:

the book i'm reading now: "the smartest kids in the world" (and how they got that way) by amanda ripley. it's in my nook hd. the how-they-got-that-way part is a bit of an exaggeration. no one really knows, but i strongly believe that 70% of "how they get that way" happens in the first three years.

isn't this book a comparison of school systems across various countries? does it also address other factors? thanks.

yes. i may have given the wrong impression with the second part of my last sentence above. the book is about school education in entire countries, with focus on finland, korea, and poland, and what makes them different from the u.s.

countries are assessed on the basis of the PISA (program for international student assessment) test administered to (hundreds of?) thousands of students in countries around the world. the test is intended to assess students' abilities in critical thinking, the solving of problems, and communication, not in memorizing information.

it's about educational policy and effectiveness, not about how to make an individual student smarter. one could use the lessons learnt to informally assess, by comparison, the quality of school districts and private schools in the u.s.

i've read only about 70% of the book. i may write a summary or review of it when i've finished reading it.

hasn't this kind of study based on PISA scores and other similar tests been done by several people already? am curious to know what unique perspective she brings to the table regarding this.

by michelle2 Mon Sep 08, 2014 11:30 pm

bw wrote:
michelle2 wrote:
bw wrote:
michelle2 wrote:

the book i'm reading now: "the smartest kids in the world" (and how they got that way) by amanda ripley. it's in my nook hd. the how-they-got-that-way part is a bit of an exaggeration. no one really knows, but i strongly believe that 70% of "how they get that way" happens in the first three years.

isn't this book a comparison of school systems across various countries? does it also address other factors? thanks.

yes. i may have given the wrong impression with the second part of my last sentence above. the book is about school education in entire countries, with focus on finland, korea, and poland, and what makes them different from the u.s.

countries are assessed on the basis of the PISA (program for international student assessment) test administered to (hundreds of?) thousands of students in countries around the world. the test is intended to assess students' abilities in critical thinking, the solving of problems, and communication, not in memorizing information.

it's about educational policy and effectiveness, not about how to make an individual student smarter. one could use the lessons learnt to informally assess, by comparison, the quality of school districts and private schools in the u.s.

i've read only about 70% of the book. i may write a summary or review of it when i've finished reading it.

hasn't this kind of study based on PISA scores and other similar tests been done by several people already? am curious to know what unique perspective she brings to the table regarding this.

i don't know the answer to your first q. her method was unconventional. the best way to satisfy your curiosity is to read the book.

by bw Mon Sep 08, 2014 11:40 pm

michelle2 wrote:

i don't know the answer to your first q. her method was unconventional. the best way to satisfy your curiosity is to read the book.

good point. shall check my library.

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