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A review by francesmthompson
A Mind of Its Own: How Your Brain Distorts and Deceives by Cordelia Fine
3.0
The first few chapters of this book are brilliant. Upbeat, enlightening and informative about this crucial muscle. This is not the kind of book I normally read, but from a research perspective (writing character based fiction) I'm very interested in how the brain controls our thoughts and reactions.
However, I believe the editor may have tactically stepped in to pull the strongest chapters to the front as these seemed to be the chapters which held the most weight, offered the most insightful neuro-scientific explanations and firmly set the tone for this book which essentially aims to explain that the reason our brain distorts and deceives is because it's for our own good, i.e. primal survival. No good will come to a person who doesn't think the best of himself or fight off threats which come in the yukky forms of rejection, insult and self-doubt.
While the research is interesting, there are just too many, too similar examples to wade through and this left my brain aching and Fine's points over-laboured.
However, I believe the editor may have tactically stepped in to pull the strongest chapters to the front as these seemed to be the chapters which held the most weight, offered the most insightful neuro-scientific explanations and firmly set the tone for this book which essentially aims to explain that the reason our brain distorts and deceives is because it's for our own good, i.e. primal survival. No good will come to a person who doesn't think the best of himself or fight off threats which come in the yukky forms of rejection, insult and self-doubt.
While the research is interesting, there are just too many, too similar examples to wade through and this left my brain aching and Fine's points over-laboured.