What do you think?
Rate this book
30 Saniyede Serisi
Das Gehirn in 30 Sekunden: Die erstaunlichsten Theorien der Neurowissenschaften in 30 Sekunden
Architecture et fonctionnement du cerveau, cerveau gauche contre cerveau droit, cerveau linguistique, émotionnel, sommeil et rêve... Sommes-nous à la merci de notre chimie cérébrale ? Que nous révèle un IRM ? La notion de cerveau droit créatif et cerveau gauche logique est-elle trop simpliste ? Savez-vous pourquoi nous ne rions pas quand nous nous chatouillons nous-mêmes ? Grâce à cet ouvrage de vulgarisation intelligente, vous allez enfin comprendre comment travaillent vos 90 milliards de neurones pour produire la perception, l'action, la cognition, l'émotion, mais aussi la façon dont se construit votre personnalité ou comment le cerveau agit lorsque vous dormez... Les plus grands experts ont été mis au défi de vous expliquer les 50 plus grands mécanismes du cerveau, chacun étant présenté en deux pages, 300 mots et une image, le tout assimilable en moins de 3 minutes. Illustré de nombreux dessins et schémas explicatifs, étayé par les biographies des pionniers de la neuroscience, voici un livre qui incitera votre matière grise à réfléchir sur elle-même.
160 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2012
110 people are currently reading
1708 people want to read
About the author
Anil Seth
22 books311 followersProfessor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
December 5, 2025
The Enigmatic Brain
Whenever I think about the human brain a Gioconda Smile pops into my face. How that huge web of neurons is connected with our sensory systems, our behaviors, our consciousness … still has a big print in the unknown.
In fact, according to Christof Koch, Ph.D., Chief Scientist and President of the Allen Institute for Brain Science we don’t even understand the brain of a worm:
“The lab roundworm, more technically known as Caenorhabditis elegans, houses 302 neurons and 7,000 connections between those neurons in its microscopic body. Researchers have painstakingly mapped and described all those connections in recent years. And we still don’t fully understand how they all work synergistically to give rise to the worm’s behaviors.“
We humans have over 80 billion neurons in our brains, woven together by an estimated 100 trillion connections, or synapses. And we still can’t understand how a brain with 302 neurons and 7000 connections fully works…
There’s a long way to go until we fully understand the human brain. This lil book will provide you a starting kick…
NOTA: A correspondente edição em português intitula-se O Cérebro em 30 Segundos
Whenever I think about the human brain a Gioconda Smile pops into my face. How that huge web of neurons is connected with our sensory systems, our behaviors, our consciousness … still has a big print in the unknown.
In fact, according to Christof Koch, Ph.D., Chief Scientist and President of the Allen Institute for Brain Science we don’t even understand the brain of a worm:
“The lab roundworm, more technically known as Caenorhabditis elegans, houses 302 neurons and 7,000 connections between those neurons in its microscopic body. Researchers have painstakingly mapped and described all those connections in recent years. And we still don’t fully understand how they all work synergistically to give rise to the worm’s behaviors.“
We humans have over 80 billion neurons in our brains, woven together by an estimated 100 trillion connections, or synapses. And we still can’t understand how a brain with 302 neurons and 7000 connections fully works…
There’s a long way to go until we fully understand the human brain. This lil book will provide you a starting kick…
NOTA: A correspondente edição em português intitula-se O Cérebro em 30 Segundos
December 9, 2018
A lot of information is crammed into this little book (I learnt a lot), but very dry. I'd rather like to learn about less topics, but more in depth. Overall, quick and relatively good overview of the field for people who don't know much.
July 3, 2024
La série des 30 secondes est toujours intéressante et ce livre ne fait pas exception. Bien vulgarisé et instructif.
July 22, 2019
I liked this book far more than I had anticipated, perhaps because I was a bit misled by the title. “Mind-blowing ideas in neuroscience” prepared me for a bit more hyperbole, embellished speculations, and ‘Neil deGrasse Tyson-esque comparisons’ along the lines of “There are enough axons in your brain to connect the dots of stars in the Milky Way galaxy..twice!”
Happily, this bit of the title is far from representative of the thorough information provided throughout the book, information of both a historical and scientific nature, and very little of which goes for the ‘shock and awe factor’ that one would expect when it comes to ‘mind-blowing ideas’. Instead, the chapters were conveniently divided into sections focused on brain structure, function, cognition, consciousness, and much more, all the while delivering the material in a didactic yet digestible format.
The one section I intuitively disagreed with was Seth’s section on the hard problem of consciousness, namely that he thinks the analogy of science’s debate around vitalism and the origins of life is akin to the issue we face whilst studying consciousness today. Optimism is indeed our best bet to continue progress on the ‘easy problems’, but I just don’t think the hard problem is surmountable without changing some of our fundamental assumptions to bridge the categorical disjunction we face. However, I wasn’t surprised to see his view laid out here, as his TedTalk and conversations with podcasters usually discuss it in the same manner. Granted, this is just my amateur theory of mind opinion on the topic, and said section is merely one of 50 great passages in the book, passages for which all eight contributing authors did a fantastic job explaining.
This book can be read from start to finish, or easily referenced per topic depending on the section of interest. A great book for anyone looking to get an overview of neuroscience, and a mandatory read for those who study/take the topic seriously in their everyday lives!
Also, there was at least one mind-blowing fact that warrants mention. Schizophrenic people can tickle themselves!
Happily, this bit of the title is far from representative of the thorough information provided throughout the book, information of both a historical and scientific nature, and very little of which goes for the ‘shock and awe factor’ that one would expect when it comes to ‘mind-blowing ideas’. Instead, the chapters were conveniently divided into sections focused on brain structure, function, cognition, consciousness, and much more, all the while delivering the material in a didactic yet digestible format.
The one section I intuitively disagreed with was Seth’s section on the hard problem of consciousness, namely that he thinks the analogy of science’s debate around vitalism and the origins of life is akin to the issue we face whilst studying consciousness today. Optimism is indeed our best bet to continue progress on the ‘easy problems’, but I just don’t think the hard problem is surmountable without changing some of our fundamental assumptions to bridge the categorical disjunction we face. However, I wasn’t surprised to see his view laid out here, as his TedTalk and conversations with podcasters usually discuss it in the same manner. Granted, this is just my amateur theory of mind opinion on the topic, and said section is merely one of 50 great passages in the book, passages for which all eight contributing authors did a fantastic job explaining.
This book can be read from start to finish, or easily referenced per topic depending on the section of interest. A great book for anyone looking to get an overview of neuroscience, and a mandatory read for those who study/take the topic seriously in their everyday lives!
Also, there was at least one mind-blowing fact that warrants mention. Schizophrenic people can tickle themselves!
February 23, 2020
Cool concept. But poorly executed.
Even though I loved "learning" about few concepts related to brain's inner workings, the information is not well organized, it's like reading a dictionary, since one is not being able to make connections between two adjacent concepts, they won't be able to remember it for more than a minute!
Even though I loved "learning" about few concepts related to brain's inner workings, the information is not well organized, it's like reading a dictionary, since one is not being able to make connections between two adjacent concepts, they won't be able to remember it for more than a minute!
May 28, 2016
Intéressant ! La méditation est évoquée pour signaler que "la méditation a un effet profond sur le cerveau, apaise les émotions, stimule la cognition et peut aider à traiter une série de maladies mentales".
July 15, 2016
BRAINS ARE THE COOLEST THINGS IN THE WORLD AND NO ONE CAN TELL ME OTHERWISE
Apart from that the book was super cool and really interesting. Good overview of neuroscience in general + I learnt a lot.
Apart from that the book was super cool and really interesting. Good overview of neuroscience in general + I learnt a lot.
March 13, 2014
I have mixed feelings about this kind of book. Personally I don’t get a lot out of reading them – I would rather have a book that reads through with ‘proper’ text – but a lot of people do like this kind of bite-sized format, with two page articles, the left a couple of hundred words of text and the right an image to support the text.
Frankly, some work a lot better than others, and for some reason, 30-Second Brain is one of the better ones in the series. Perhaps because there isn’t a lot of mathematical depth to the subject, the short essays did build up a rather nice picture of our knowledge of the workings of the brain. I was rather unnerved to see the discredited Freud mentioned, but it was only a passing reference, and wasn’t really supporting one of his top-of-the-head (literally) theories.
There are an awful lot of good popular science books out there on the brain, and I would regard this as a smorgasbord taster – an opportunity to sample some of the delights, but being aware that, for instance, if you wanted to know more about the impact of brain training, you should pick up a copy of Smarter.
Overall, a sound and informative addition to the series.
Frankly, some work a lot better than others, and for some reason, 30-Second Brain is one of the better ones in the series. Perhaps because there isn’t a lot of mathematical depth to the subject, the short essays did build up a rather nice picture of our knowledge of the workings of the brain. I was rather unnerved to see the discredited Freud mentioned, but it was only a passing reference, and wasn’t really supporting one of his top-of-the-head (literally) theories.
There are an awful lot of good popular science books out there on the brain, and I would regard this as a smorgasbord taster – an opportunity to sample some of the delights, but being aware that, for instance, if you wanted to know more about the impact of brain training, you should pick up a copy of Smarter.
Overall, a sound and informative addition to the series.
December 24, 2023
What a greater taster for any newbie to neuroscience!
It's packed with 50 different topics in neuroscience, including some of the more intriguing and elusive concepts, like consciousness, meditation and free will.
There is absolutely no time to get bored with this book. As the title tag describes it, every idea is summarized in a few paragraphs in just 30 seconds before going onto a "3-second brainwave" and a "3-minute brainstorm" where the concept is expanded upon.
In the e-book version there are also links to other related sections in the book, and mini 3-second biographies of key pioneers in the concepts.
It's a great reference book for dipping in and out of. You don't have to read each section in the order they appear in the book. It's perfect for those with short attention spans.
There's also a handy glossary at the beginning of each major section. And an extended 2-page biographies of key people in neuroscience.
On the whole the concepts are well explained and easy to understand. The reason I couldn't give it 5 stars out of 5 is that for me, the book doesn't go in depth enough. But obviously that's to be expected in a book that devotes such little time to each subtopic.
There's a biography at the end of the book which features a handful of other great neuroscience and psychology books aimed at the layman or newbie.
If you haven't read any neuroscience books before, I'd recommend this one to start off with.+!
It's packed with 50 different topics in neuroscience, including some of the more intriguing and elusive concepts, like consciousness, meditation and free will.
There is absolutely no time to get bored with this book. As the title tag describes it, every idea is summarized in a few paragraphs in just 30 seconds before going onto a "3-second brainwave" and a "3-minute brainstorm" where the concept is expanded upon.
In the e-book version there are also links to other related sections in the book, and mini 3-second biographies of key pioneers in the concepts.
It's a great reference book for dipping in and out of. You don't have to read each section in the order they appear in the book. It's perfect for those with short attention spans.
There's also a handy glossary at the beginning of each major section. And an extended 2-page biographies of key people in neuroscience.
On the whole the concepts are well explained and easy to understand. The reason I couldn't give it 5 stars out of 5 is that for me, the book doesn't go in depth enough. But obviously that's to be expected in a book that devotes such little time to each subtopic.
There's a biography at the end of the book which features a handful of other great neuroscience and psychology books aimed at the layman or newbie.
If you haven't read any neuroscience books before, I'd recommend this one to start off with.+!
August 18, 2017
I think this book is very interesting because it has names and functions of the different parts in the brain, coming with interesting facts and pictures edited by the author. I like the format of the book with one side all words and the other side covered with a picture that filled the whole page. The pictures were also interesting; paintings of weird people and different colors make the book easy to read. My favorite part was about dreams and sleeping, which the author explained thoroughly about the difference between “sleeping” and “dreaming.”
November 17, 2024
Una manera meravellos per entrar en aquest món de la psicologia.
El detall dels diagrames, esquemes i dibuixos és clau per interioritzar la informació... Moltes vegades et donen dades sense cap referència i tal com entra surt.
No ha sigut el cas.
Així i tot, m'hagués agradat que aprofundís en algun dels conceptes.
El detall dels diagrames, esquemes i dibuixos és clau per interioritzar la informació... Moltes vegades et donen dades sense cap referència i tal com entra surt.
No ha sigut el cas.
Així i tot, m'hagués agradat que aprofundís en algun dels conceptes.
January 26, 2025
Me ha volado la cabeza. Es una gozada cada pagina, mucho aprendizaje, mucho conocimiento, las ilustraciones son maravillosas, los temas son adecuados y aunque es el ABC de la neurociencia en verdad es muy agradable leer este libro.
June 30, 2019
Resumido, prático e intuitivo. Uma boa forma de rever conceitos com exemplos concretos.
March 26, 2023
Sintetizado y al grano! Tópicos que nos ayudan a entender un poco más cómo funcionamos.
November 14, 2022
This popular science book is a nice introduction to many neurological topics. Since every page contains a different topic it does not go very deep into these topics, but in the back of the book there is a list for continued reading. Every topic is explained over one page and on the page next to it is an illustration that goes with the topic. Personally I really love these kind of bite-sized chunks of information, but the illustrations did not really add anything to the book. They did not help to understand the topics better and they also weren't that pretty.
The book is divided into seven sections, each starting with a page that explains the meaning of some words. Also a couple of biographies of people that were important for the development of neuroscience are included in the book. The explanations of the words were clear, but in some cases I found them to be unnecessary, since the words also became clear by reading the explanations of the topics. I thought the biographies were interesting. I wouldn't read a whole book on most of these people, but it was nice to get an idea of the people who really made a difference in de development of neurscience as a science.
The book is divided into seven sections, each starting with a page that explains the meaning of some words. Also a couple of biographies of people that were important for the development of neuroscience are included in the book. The explanations of the words were clear, but in some cases I found them to be unnecessary, since the words also became clear by reading the explanations of the topics. I thought the biographies were interesting. I wouldn't read a whole book on most of these people, but it was nice to get an idea of the people who really made a difference in de development of neurscience as a science.
November 3, 2022
30 second brain
Anil Seth
genre：science / neuroscience/ non-fiction
Prof Anil Seth is also the author of “being: a new science of consciousness”, he is the editor of this easy bite “30 second brain”.
Quite a basic grasp of brain concepts in the recent century with laymen terms and pictures to facilitate the delivery. A good book for overview of some brain concepts on surface level.
Some quite interesting theories like “mass action concept”, “neuronal Darwinism”(theory of neuronal group selection TNGS), Bayesian brain theory , posterior superior temporal sulcus voxel based morphometry correlation with level of loneliness.
Enjoyed the read ? Yeh ~
like it:4/⭐️
Nov 3 2022
Anil Seth
genre：science / neuroscience/ non-fiction
Prof Anil Seth is also the author of “being: a new science of consciousness”, he is the editor of this easy bite “30 second brain”.
Quite a basic grasp of brain concepts in the recent century with laymen terms and pictures to facilitate the delivery. A good book for overview of some brain concepts on surface level.
Some quite interesting theories like “mass action concept”, “neuronal Darwinism”(theory of neuronal group selection TNGS), Bayesian brain theory , posterior superior temporal sulcus voxel based morphometry correlation with level of loneliness.
Enjoyed the read ? Yeh ~
like it:4/⭐️
Nov 3 2022
August 16, 2017
I think this book is very interesting because it has names and functions of the different parts in the brain, coming with interesting facts and pictures edited by the author. I like the format of the book with one side all words and the other side covered with a picture that filled the whole page. The pictures were also interesting; paintings of weird people and different colors make the book easy to read. My favorite part was about dreams and sleeping, which the author explained thoroughly about the difference between “sleeping” and “dreaming.”
February 1, 2022
Anil Seth collects a series of essays on the brain. There are fifty essays in the book, and all of them are short snippets of text. The book is easy to read.
Like all of the other books in this series, it takes input from experts on the subject and provides enough information to be helpful. It doesn't feel as though the contributors are talking down to the audience.
There isn't a lot to say about it. The book came out in 2014, so some of the scientists covered have died since then. Oliver Sacks is one example.
Thanks for reading my review, and see you next time.
Like all of the other books in this series, it takes input from experts on the subject and provides enough information to be helpful. It doesn't feel as though the contributors are talking down to the audience.
There isn't a lot to say about it. The book came out in 2014, so some of the scientists covered have died since then. Oliver Sacks is one example.
Thanks for reading my review, and see you next time.
November 1, 2014
As you'd expect from the title / type of book, this is a pretty shallow list of disconnected topics that you've probably encountered already if �you're into neuroscience / psychology. That said, it did point me to a couple of new books I bought and I'm looking forward to read, so that was a big plus.
December 22, 2019
Como outros livros da colecção, apresenta vários resumos das matérias mais importantes. Desta forma abre caminho para se pesquisar outros livros sobre o cérebro ou algum assunto mais específico dos abordados.
December 25, 2020
Lo que necesitaba para empezar a entender el tema de la neurociencia.
Es un libro bello, bellas ilustraciones. Con muchos tips de los cuales se puede partir buscando más información.
No es un texto para hacer papers o cosas así, pero es muy útil.
Es un libro bello, bellas ilustraciones. Con muchos tips de los cuales se puede partir buscando más información.
No es un texto para hacer papers o cosas así, pero es muy útil.
March 28, 2020
A good overview of the major concepts in neuroscience.
Also introduces the key people in this field.
Use the information in this book to determine what you want to learn more of.
Also introduces the key people in this field.
Use the information in this book to determine what you want to learn more of.
July 25, 2021
A good book feed your curiosity about how the brain works. Easy to read, it's not writen in an academic way. Fun to read!
April 13, 2022
UN BUEN LIBRO DE DIVULGACIÓN COMO TAL, es decir, es un texto dirigido primordialmente a personas que no saben mucho del tema o que van recién iniciando en ello. Gana en extensión (son 50 temas), pero pierde en profundidad, tal vez por ello es que cumple con el objetivo de informar a grandes rasgos al público ya mencionado.
Al leer este libro me ha traído muchos recuerdos, ya que no soy nuevo en el área pero no es que me dedique de lleno a ello, y me ha vuelto a sorprender lo fascinante que es el cerebro, a pesar de la brevedad con que se abordan los temas; pensándolos un poco más es posible maravillarse como algo tan simple en apariencia produce fenómenos tan complejos y a veces difíciles de explicar.
El texto cuida mucho de no caer en el reduccionismo y el determinismo biológico (contrario a lo que de entrada pudiera esperarse), pero siempre alude al componente material detrás de todos los fenómenos descritos.
Las secciones están bien pensadas, comenzando con la anatomía básica, pasando por los procesos cerebrales y llegando a los tópicos actuales. Cada sección tiene su glosario y la reseña o perfil de algún neurocientífico distinguido (entre ellos Oliver Sacks y Francis Crick), muy bien elegido para representar la sección.
Sólo algunos errores (o aspectos a mejorar), tales como repetir términos en los glosarios de cada sección (lo justificarían con la intención de que las secciones pueden leerse de manera no lineal), y no proporcionar información para entender mejor ciertas explicaciones, como en el caso de Phineas Gage.
Mención aparte es el diseño de las imagenes, ya que es muy hermoso, ilustrativo e ¡incluso divertido!
Al leer este libro me ha traído muchos recuerdos, ya que no soy nuevo en el área pero no es que me dedique de lleno a ello, y me ha vuelto a sorprender lo fascinante que es el cerebro, a pesar de la brevedad con que se abordan los temas; pensándolos un poco más es posible maravillarse como algo tan simple en apariencia produce fenómenos tan complejos y a veces difíciles de explicar.
El texto cuida mucho de no caer en el reduccionismo y el determinismo biológico (contrario a lo que de entrada pudiera esperarse), pero siempre alude al componente material detrás de todos los fenómenos descritos.
Las secciones están bien pensadas, comenzando con la anatomía básica, pasando por los procesos cerebrales y llegando a los tópicos actuales. Cada sección tiene su glosario y la reseña o perfil de algún neurocientífico distinguido (entre ellos Oliver Sacks y Francis Crick), muy bien elegido para representar la sección.
Sólo algunos errores (o aspectos a mejorar), tales como repetir términos en los glosarios de cada sección (lo justificarían con la intención de que las secciones pueden leerse de manera no lineal), y no proporcionar información para entender mejor ciertas explicaciones, como en el caso de Phineas Gage.
Mención aparte es el diseño de las imagenes, ya que es muy hermoso, ilustrativo e ¡incluso divertido!
October 9, 2021
This book is a quick fact summary of cognitive neuroscience. If you are fresh to neuroscience, it would take some googling to fully appreciate each section. I loved the format of this book. The summary parts were really good. I appreciated the acknowledgement of denial faced by Rosalind Franklin for her contributions. Some facts like tickling and schizophrenia, role of cerebellum in self initiated actions can be extended to test out some concepts in consciousness studies.
The book also touch upon Libet's discomforts with the way his experiment was interpreted (the so called free-will experiment).
A quick read and useful for an introductory teaching session to interns and trainees.
The book also touch upon Libet's discomforts with the way his experiment was interpreted (the so called free-will experiment).
A quick read and useful for an introductory teaching session to interns and trainees.
November 3, 2018
Not perfect, but more of a fringe read.
dont get me wrong i liked the book and the aproach on how to deliver the content, because this allowed me to read it quite easily during my commutes.
are you curious about the brain and want to have content delivered to you pill sized,
this is the book for you
dont get me wrong i liked the book and the aproach on how to deliver the content, because this allowed me to read it quite easily during my commutes.
are you curious about the brain and want to have content delivered to you pill sized,
this is the book for you
June 4, 2021
A very nice high level tour-de-force which leaves the reader equipped with a stimulating list of names and books for closer study. Special attention is paid to a few perhaps unexpected topics which are popular with the Sackler Centre authors, which makes for a less orthodox, more interesting overview.
December 22, 2019
Genau das was ich mir versprochen habe. Viele Themen werden in 30 Sekunden vermittelt. Das man dabei nicht ins Detail gehen kann, sollte klar sein, aber das ist auch nicht die Absicht des Buches. Super Idee und gelungene Umsetzung.
Read
February 13, 2020Good Job, I really appreciate your effort. Keep it up, Bro!
very impressive blog >> 3Unlocker
very impressive blog >> 3Unlocker
March 1, 2021
A good, quick point of reference for bio and psych students and an interesting read for everyone else! You can learn a little about a lot, or use the book as a reminder of basic points in neuroscience and neuropsychology.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews