Early in Idiot Brain, author Dean Burnett addresses a common misconception about memory. People tend to assume human memory works along the same lines as a computer’s memory: information goes in, is stored, and is retrieved at a later date when you need it. Sure, there might be trouble retrieving at times: you only have perfect recall ability if you’re Sherlock or you take narcotics like Bradley Cooper in Limitless, but all the data is in there somewhere, right? Unfortunately for the pharmaceutical industry, it’s […]
Hilarious, quirky science fiction fun
If you haven’t picked up anything by A. Lee Martinez and you’re a fan of humor-laced horror or science fiction (aka Douglas Adams type stuff), you’re missing out. This book was the third or fourth by him I’ve read, and each one has been a delight. As the title should indicate, this novel is ridiculous. It’s about an alien from Neptune (who looks like a giant mollusk) who is a super genius. In his quest to understand “science” he’s constantly conquering worlds and creating […]
There’s a human being behind that brain, people
When Henry Molaison was 7 or 8 years old he collided with a bicycle and hit his head, an incident that many scientists believe was the cause of his subsequent epileptic seizures. By the time he turned 27, Henry and his parents were desperate for relief from what had become a debilitating condition, so much so that they agreed to let Dr. William Scoville, a neurosurgeon at Hartford Hospital, perform a lobotomy. This would be a new type of lobotomy that would specifically target the medial temporal lobes. While […]