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New Scientist: Instant Expert

【中商原版】 新科学家杂志:你的大脑如何工作 英文原版 New Scientist How Your Brain Works 自然科学书籍

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Ever wondered what's going on inside your head?
You are your brain. Everything that makes you you, and all your experiences of the world, are somehow conjured up by 1.4 kilograms of grey matter inside your skull. That might seem impossible, but science has advanced so much that we now understand not just its structures and inner workings but also how it can give rise to perception, consciousness, emotions, memories, intelligence, sleep and more. HOW YOUR BRAIN WORKS explores the amazing world inside your head. Discover the evolution and anatomy of the brain. Learn how we can peer inside it and watch it at work, and how the latest technology can allow us to control our minds and those of others. ABOUT THE SERIES
New Scientist Instant Expert books are definitive and accessible entry points to the most important subjects in science; subjects that challenge, attract debate, invite controversy and engage the most enquiring minds. Designed for curious readers who want to know how things work and why, the Instant Expert series explores the topics that really matter and their impact on individuals, society, and the planet, translating the scientific complexities around us into language that's open to everyone, and putting new ideas and discoveries into perspective and context.

First published March 21, 2017

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5 stars
96 (27%)
4 stars
146 (41%)
3 stars
90 (25%)
2 stars
13 (3%)
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4 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
Profile Image for Nicky.
4,138 reviews1,113 followers
July 10, 2017
As ever with the New Scientist books, this is a great introduction to a topic — and in this case, it’s a fairly narrow topic: the brain, and how it works. It’s not just a collection of stuff that’s appeared in the other collections, although I think a few of the info boxes and so on did come from other New Scientist publications originally. It’s also based on one of their Instant Expert courses, a great series of events that I do recommend if they cover a topic you’re interested in.

For me, even without my degree, this was a fairly simplistic view of the brain — “instant expert” isn’t quite what you’d become from reading it, I’d feel. “Instantly more informed and able to understand further information with a good foundation,” perhaps.

Reviewed for The Bibliophibian.
Profile Image for Fatini Zulkifli.
432 reviews40 followers
July 10, 2021
I learned a lot! It's interesting to know that female brain is vulnerable to mental illnesses and male brain is prone to develop autism. The book makes aware of what is going on with myself. I'm in my 20s. This book informs that my brain is at the stage of "quietly learning to focus on the good things in life." Stress is normal for people of my age.

I also learn that people age 65 and above remember negative experience less that young people. So, chill everyone! We will get through this negative experiences and won't bother much about it when we're about to die.
Profile Image for Tadas Talaikis.
Author 7 books79 followers
July 5, 2017
"Instant expert", I now know why people have tendency to fight research with single-random-events and meta-analyses with single research in discussions - they probably believe in "instant" fast thought system things to be the answer for anything :-D Well, that's also probably one of reasons we still have religions... :(

OK, back to book, it wouldn't make you ant instant "expert", there are much more in-depth books that lead to new "aha" moments.
Profile Image for Britta Barnes.
173 reviews
February 4, 2025
I really enjoyed this book, not as much a fiction stories but I learned so much from this book. I am taking a psychology class right now and it has me so interested on what goes on in our head. This book dumbed down the basics, I’ll be learning of it soon enough for nursing so really enjoyed learned about it all. I highlighted and bookmarked so many pages in this book that I hope to come back to one day! I recommend this book to everyone!
Profile Image for Shaima.
18 reviews1 follower
November 14, 2025
The book is a very good introduction to how our brain works starting from what it is made from to its functions. I learned a lot specially that it’s research based and talks about the evolution of neurology research to understand the brain! It also gave me an understanding of how I can deal with my brain and emotions. If you are not into scientific research. This book is not for you.
Profile Image for Essam Munir.
Author 1 book28 followers
October 23, 2017
This book is a good collection of various topics in neuroscience. It is well organized, nevertheless, I did not find anything new.
Profile Image for Zahraa.
9 reviews9 followers
May 31, 2020
I’ve really enjoyed my journey with this book. It wasn’t a light reading indeed. The subject itself is very complicated which is why I took a long time to comprehend it even though I’m a biology student. I’m giving it 4 stars because I think it could have been presented in a simpler way by providing more illustrations or a cheat sheet. The last few chapters are fairly easier but I didn’t get enough of them since they provided merely theories and predictions of the future.

Nevertheless, I still would recommend it for people who are new to the subject and want to start with a good book.
Profile Image for Byren Burdess.
86 reviews16 followers
May 1, 2021
Brief summaries of a few topics regarding the brain, the chapters average around 20 pages and include titles like 'memory', 'intelligence', 'emotions', 'consciousness', 'sleep', etc. There's a few interesting anecdotes in here and honestly that's why I decided to pick it up when it was on offer in a local bookshop so I can't complain about it being more of an introduction. Not really for those that already know a reasonable amount about the brains workings.
Profile Image for Jim Razinha.
1,515 reviews90 followers
May 5, 2017
Quick read, yet comprehensive enough to cover most of the bases. Well done.
Profile Image for Oz Asher.
13 reviews
June 9, 2022
Try reading about the brain in wikipedia and watch a few short videos of neuroscience in youtube instead of wasting your time reading this book.
Profile Image for Kiwiflora.
894 reviews30 followers
June 15, 2022
This book was put into the last monthly meeting of my book club. No one seemed interested so I took it to read. But I didn't finish this. Which is most unusual for me. But some time ago I decided that if a book hadn't grabbed me by page 80 or up to 100, then sorry, moving on. And you would think the topic of the brain written in plain-as English, with diagrams, easily relevant anecdotes, it would be very accessible and easy to read. And it was, but there are lot of words that don't actually tell you very much. The chapters are short, each one a different topic but the surface is barely touched on any of the subjects. I kept wanting to know more - three pages on the senses ? Four pages on emotional intelligence? Maybe we are supposed to take on the suggested titles in the bibliography. Overall I felt like I was reading articles from a weekend newspaper magazine supplement, or a lifestyle type magazine.
Profile Image for Bronwyn Lok.
373 reviews42 followers
April 26, 2018
Full review at https://bronzelock619.blogspot.com/2018/04/how-your-brain-works-inside-most.html.

Even though this book claimed to help its readers learn about how our brains work, much of the science of how brains work, such as the different parts and the process of signal transduction, only occupy around 20 percent of the book. It as interesting to read, as it had a lot of fascinating facts, such as how some animals, like dolphins and seals, sleep with half their brain asleep and half awake, the differences in the brain in the different stages in our lives, why 8 hours became the magical number for sleep, and more. It also included things like Five things for kids, Ten quotes, and Five jokes, all of which I just find to be really corny.
Most of the book, though, were theories on controversial subjects, such as the purpose of emotion, if the IQ of the human population is indeed declining, and the differences between male and female brains, with experiment results that were contradictory and in the end, rather inconclusive.
While this book is quite informative, and quite good for some light reading, it is not meant to be used as an educational textbook.

Profile Image for Faisal.
24 reviews26 followers
May 4, 2020
الكتاب مجملًا يعتبر جيد، لكن كنت أعتقد أن يكون أسلوب الكتابة أسلوب قصصي، والذي اتضح لي، أنه يعتبر مجلة علمية أكثر من كتاب، بسبب تجميع المعلومات ومحاولة حشرها في
صفحات قليلة.

ينفع الكتاب للأشخاص اللي أول مره يقرون في هذا المجال، بينما المنغمسين فيه، أنا متأكد أن معلومات هذا الكتاب معروفة.


في النهاية يعتبر كتاب ثري بالمعلومات التي قد تفيد القارئ في هذا المجال.

159 reviews
May 21, 2020
I expected thia book to be easy to read-book. But i was wrong. There's so many explanation about researches in this book, and i find quite hard for me to understand it

Maybe it's a good book for some people,but it's not my cup of tea
Profile Image for JP.
454 reviews12 followers
August 14, 2017
a nice one to reads less technical torturous
I found lot of books about brain are so technical and one point of time, it resembles as if..... You are reading a text book
This one was awesome
Profile Image for Leo Bali.
2 reviews
October 27, 2017
it shows you all the possible "point of views" , but somehow doesn't get you to a conclusion .
Profile Image for معاذ قاسم.
3 reviews19 followers
December 14, 2017
It is a great book based on cutting edge researches. I like how chapters organized. Also,this book is amazing because they conclude visual figures, statistics and interviews.
Profile Image for L.
30 reviews
February 21, 2019
Good for a quick skim overview of brain science
4 reviews2 followers
April 8, 2019
Great book. I think I am going to read it again and take some notes this time. I should have done that the first time. Interesting read and a good intro to the topic.
6 reviews
March 1, 2022
well explained concepts. very easy to connect with what author is trying to explain. above all lot of useful tips.
90 reviews
October 24, 2023
Decentish primer. Lots of info great starting point. Good read.
Profile Image for Kevin Turner .
31 reviews
April 8, 2024
Very interesting read and informative to how the brain works and medical sciences improvements over the last 200 years
Profile Image for Perla K. Cariño.
Author 1 book1 follower
April 25, 2024
Great facts about the overall topic of the brain & mind. Very glad I read this to understand a lot of basics and really learned a lot, while not getting bored at all.
Profile Image for lulu.
12 reviews
June 11, 2024
v simple neuroscience read about anatomy, consciousness and disorders
Profile Image for Maureads.
47 reviews
October 30, 2024
Book about the brain but a great reminder to keep our whole body moving. 💪🧠
20 reviews1 follower
September 23, 2023
I am currently reading this book. I have no prior knowledge or background in neurosciences, which makes the book a little hard to read for someone like me but still, very accessible. I might have to read the book twice to fully absorb every thing but it is an interesting read for those wanting to learn about the brain.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews

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