A book written by a developmental molecular biologist that offers several principles for surviving and thriving at work, home and school? In Brain Rules, John Medina, brings together the volumes of research on how the brain works and uses it as a basis for presenting twelves principles on how to make the most of your grey matter. Sounds like an odd but intriguing mix right? I’ve wanted to read Brain Rules for a long while and after being repeatedly disappointed by the inability of UK bookstores to stock it, I finally bought it online. But was it worth it?
For a book written by a scientist, it’s easy to think this may be quite heavy going, loaded with technical gibberish. In fact the opposite is true. Medina does a frankly wonderful and entertaining job explaining a complex topic in a mainstream way. However, encouragingly, any research he used had to have been published in peer-reviewed journals with the results having been repeated successfully just to be sure. The leaves a book that really is backed up by science.
The main issue I have is that the subtitle of the book plus the oft quoted line by Cory Doctorow describing it as “Oliver Sacks meets Getting Things Done” implies the book is yet another personal development or business book. However, this isn’t really the case. Don’t think you can take the principles in this book and start planning out how to achieve early retirement or leave work an hour early each day.
In fact, for me personally, all but a couple of the rules in this book can be applied straightaway (getting lots of exercise and plenty of sleep are pretty obvious ones, for instance). The rest are heavily reliant on others for them to work and unless you’re in a highly academic environment you may simply be out of luck. For instance, it’s great to know how your sense of smell can help with the learning process, but walking around with a bottle of perfume isn’t really going to work, and neither are you likely to have a lecturer who is experimental enough to strategically spray different scents in the air during classes.
Of course, that’s just me. I suspect there are a lot of people out there who really are in a position to take these principles and make them their own. Or maybe applying them just requires a little extra imagination and effort. Or maybe this book is just more about changing institutions rather than individuals. What do you think?
Anyways, if you don’t go into this book expecting the next 4-Hour Work Week, you’ll probably love how effortlessly it dismisses numerous myths about working and learning and this book will certainly give you a better understanding of how the brain works. Those are the two key features that make Brain Rules such a great read, understanding how you and the world really works.
As Medina admits, we still know very little about the brain despite the wealth of information in this book, and much of the tips he offers on making the most of it are merely ideas, because simply not enough research has been done. However, what is in the book is interesting and informative and really gets you thinking. Much of our so called ‘modern’ schooling and business practices are anything but, and often run contrary to what science knows. By the time you’ve finished this book it will seem scary quite how much we’re shooting ourselves in the foot.
As a final note to this review, check out the Brain Rules website. It’s a great accompaniment to the book itself and includes several entertaining videos, charts, tutorials and extra details to reiterate all the points made.
December 3, 2009 News & Updates
0 Comments