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Understanding the Brain: From Cells to Behavior to Cognition
An examination of what makes us human and unique among all creatures—our brains.
No reader curious about our “little grey cells” will want to pass up Harvard neuroscientist John E. Dowling’s brief introduction to the brain. In this up-to-date revision of his 1998 book Creating Mind, Dowling conveys the essence and vitality of the field of neuroscience—examining the progress we’ve made in understanding how brains work, and shedding light on discoveries having to do with aging, mental illness, and brain health. The first half of the book provides the nuts-and-bolts necessary for an up-to-date understanding of the brain. Covering the general organization of the brain, early chapters explain how cells communicate with one another to enable us to experience the world. The rest of the book touches on higher-level concepts such as vision, perception, language, memory, emotion, and consciousness. Beautifully illustrated and lucidly written, this introduction elegantly reveals the beauty of the organ that makes us uniquely human.
No reader curious about our “little grey cells” will want to pass up Harvard neuroscientist John E. Dowling’s brief introduction to the brain. In this up-to-date revision of his 1998 book Creating Mind, Dowling conveys the essence and vitality of the field of neuroscience—examining the progress we’ve made in understanding how brains work, and shedding light on discoveries having to do with aging, mental illness, and brain health. The first half of the book provides the nuts-and-bolts necessary for an up-to-date understanding of the brain. Covering the general organization of the brain, early chapters explain how cells communicate with one another to enable us to experience the world. The rest of the book touches on higher-level concepts such as vision, perception, language, memory, emotion, and consciousness. Beautifully illustrated and lucidly written, this introduction elegantly reveals the beauty of the organ that makes us uniquely human.
295 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 30, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
October 31, 2021
I wanted to learn more about the brain and have a better foundation for neuroscience. This book was originally published in 1998, but it has been recently updated.
I liked the progression of starting the most basic and the smallest unit that neuroscience deals with and then progressing in complexity. It starts with electrophysiology, synapses, neuromodulation, etc.
Then it moves on to actual behaviour, first from more simple invertebrate organisms, but then to more animals higher on the phylogenetic tree. It ends with cognitive science and higher brain function unique to human beings.
While the beginning of the book was fairly difficult at times, it was also very useful. I ended understanding the complexities of neuro excitation and inhibition much better, for instance. The basic mechanics of the brain as a whole.
However, the book as a whole was a bit disappointing. Many parts seemed overly technical to a pointless degree, at least in how the author approached the subject and how fast it dived into details. Some of it I don't think I can possibly get any value from when it got fairly deep into chemistry or electrophysiology. Even if I managed to understand it fully, which I certainly did not, I would likely just forget a few days later, if not some hours later.
The book also seemed very biased towards vision. Not only having a massive chapter on it, but it pops up in other areas a well. It was no surprise to find out that Dowling's research is primary with vision, which, unfortunately, also tends to be one of the areas that I find most boring.
The later chapters were a bit more interesting since they dealt with cognition a bit more directly, and some were even the typical material you would find in any psychology introduction. This was fairly odd to me given how technical some other chapters were.
I'm sure that many will find that part much more interesting, but I am afraid that many will never get there because they will have quit in the meantime with some more technical chapters. I think it would have been better to weave throughout so that the more basic but technical aspects of neuroscience can still have a connection to a real-life perspective.
The last chapter was consciousness which was fairly disappointing. It's fairly common for such books to avoid any philosophy about consciousness, which is unfortunate but somewhat acceptable, but this one was especially bad. It could have at least explored some neuro correlates of consciousness or some kind of evolutionary explanation, but what it offered was very bland and superficial.
It's a solid resource to learn about neuroscience but I think it could have been done better. It's not so bad if you aren't afraid of skipping sections, unlike me. I think the first and the last parts were the best. The first will give you a general outline of the basics you need to know, and then the final chapters will cover more interesting stuff like neuroplasticity, memory, language, etc.
I liked the progression of starting the most basic and the smallest unit that neuroscience deals with and then progressing in complexity. It starts with electrophysiology, synapses, neuromodulation, etc.
Then it moves on to actual behaviour, first from more simple invertebrate organisms, but then to more animals higher on the phylogenetic tree. It ends with cognitive science and higher brain function unique to human beings.
While the beginning of the book was fairly difficult at times, it was also very useful. I ended understanding the complexities of neuro excitation and inhibition much better, for instance. The basic mechanics of the brain as a whole.
However, the book as a whole was a bit disappointing. Many parts seemed overly technical to a pointless degree, at least in how the author approached the subject and how fast it dived into details. Some of it I don't think I can possibly get any value from when it got fairly deep into chemistry or electrophysiology. Even if I managed to understand it fully, which I certainly did not, I would likely just forget a few days later, if not some hours later.
The book also seemed very biased towards vision. Not only having a massive chapter on it, but it pops up in other areas a well. It was no surprise to find out that Dowling's research is primary with vision, which, unfortunately, also tends to be one of the areas that I find most boring.
The later chapters were a bit more interesting since they dealt with cognition a bit more directly, and some were even the typical material you would find in any psychology introduction. This was fairly odd to me given how technical some other chapters were.
I'm sure that many will find that part much more interesting, but I am afraid that many will never get there because they will have quit in the meantime with some more technical chapters. I think it would have been better to weave throughout so that the more basic but technical aspects of neuroscience can still have a connection to a real-life perspective.
The last chapter was consciousness which was fairly disappointing. It's fairly common for such books to avoid any philosophy about consciousness, which is unfortunate but somewhat acceptable, but this one was especially bad. It could have at least explored some neuro correlates of consciousness or some kind of evolutionary explanation, but what it offered was very bland and superficial.
It's a solid resource to learn about neuroscience but I think it could have been done better. It's not so bad if you aren't afraid of skipping sections, unlike me. I think the first and the last parts were the best. The first will give you a general outline of the basics you need to know, and then the final chapters will cover more interesting stuff like neuroplasticity, memory, language, etc.
September 2, 2021
A fascinating book and worthy successor to his earlier book on the brain.
This is quite different from his earlier book. Fortunately, he does not cover the same ground.
Full of fascinating tidbits such as how visual inputs (things we see) first come to the brain area called V1 and how, simultaneously, the image goes on several areas that are concerned with parallel issues:
V4-form and color, V8-color, V5-movement. From there, the visual information follows two separate pathways in the brain: the WHAT pathway and the WHERE pathway. So, when you see something, rapidly your brain is analyzing the image in several ways, simultaneously!
I was also delighted to see him confirm that such a thing as "left handedness" means that the right hemisphere is dominant.
The reader is asked to perform an experiment. Place your two hands together with the fingers interlocked. as if praying. Which thumb is on top? Left or right? Only one way feels comfortable. The opposite feels strange. Why--whichever thumb is on top, that means the opposite hemisphere is dominant. Since society does not care which thumb goes on top (as opposed to which hand we write with), this is a good indicator of which hemisphere is dominant. Continuing, since the left hemisphere processes words and language in a linear-sequential manner, and the right hemisphere processes images in a visual simultaneous manner, the dominant hemisphere is a critical fact.
Though unfortunately science still does not understand a lot, through fMRI techniques and cleverly-designed experiments, neuroscientists are learning a lot of where things are located.
In short, highly recommended.
This is quite different from his earlier book. Fortunately, he does not cover the same ground.
Full of fascinating tidbits such as how visual inputs (things we see) first come to the brain area called V1 and how, simultaneously, the image goes on several areas that are concerned with parallel issues:
V4-form and color, V8-color, V5-movement. From there, the visual information follows two separate pathways in the brain: the WHAT pathway and the WHERE pathway. So, when you see something, rapidly your brain is analyzing the image in several ways, simultaneously!
I was also delighted to see him confirm that such a thing as "left handedness" means that the right hemisphere is dominant.
The reader is asked to perform an experiment. Place your two hands together with the fingers interlocked. as if praying. Which thumb is on top? Left or right? Only one way feels comfortable. The opposite feels strange. Why--whichever thumb is on top, that means the opposite hemisphere is dominant. Since society does not care which thumb goes on top (as opposed to which hand we write with), this is a good indicator of which hemisphere is dominant. Continuing, since the left hemisphere processes words and language in a linear-sequential manner, and the right hemisphere processes images in a visual simultaneous manner, the dominant hemisphere is a critical fact.
Though unfortunately science still does not understand a lot, through fMRI techniques and cleverly-designed experiments, neuroscientists are learning a lot of where things are located.
In short, highly recommended.
February 10, 2021
Excellent beginning or foundational knowledge of the brain and how it influences the mind. The first 2/3rds of the book is a bit academic in nature describing the what cells the brain is made of and how it organizes itself as those cells excite and inhibit. I don't recall ever taking a class on cellular biology so all of this was pretty new to me. I have had some basic knowledge from articles in Scientific American and others but this was way more detailed, especially concerning electrical and chemical signaling. It is exciting stuff to see what knowledge we have gathered over the years. The last 1/3rd of the book is where more of the brain-mind problem is written. The section on memory is fascinating along with language. Well-written and concise.
January 24, 2024
Somewhat hard to follow and understand, and a lot of academic terms are not easy to grasp if you’re not into the field. The book starts from the basics: cells, and progresses in a linear way to behaviour and cognition, expanding and explaining how and why we (humans) behave in a given way in given circumstances. The foundation this book provides is solid and well-built, but you realise that it’s outdated (in 2024) when you hear that some things are not yet discovered, or when it says that other things are true when we debunked them in the last few years. Despite those small errors (or better say un-knowledge) the book is full of insight and is totally worth a read (or a listen).
December 30, 2025
The book was disappointing. Many parts seemed overly technical to a pointless degree. Some of it I can’t get any value from because it went deep into chemistry or electrophysiology, which I have no understanding of. Even if I managed to understand it fully, the way it was written was so technical and boring I would probably have forgotten it anyway. Overall pats of the book were easy to read and thus informative, others were overly technical and so hard for me to comprehend. Not for a starter with limited science background.
June 14, 2020
Quite the concise text on basics of human nervous system. Most of it felt like revising anat and physio but it delves just a tad bit deeper in certain topics. I specifically likes the style of posing a question and then addressing the concept with an answer. Fun read!
January 30, 2019
This is an excellent introduction to neuroscience. It is well-written and accessible to a wide audience.
August 29, 2019
I greatly enjoyed this introduction to neuroscience. It’s got just enough depth and story to keep it both informative and fascinating at the same time.
May 27, 2020
Technically fine, but really dense. I couldn't get through this one.
It's probably just me, but if you're considering it and you don't have a strong chemistry background, skip this one.
It's probably just me, but if you're considering it and you don't have a strong chemistry background, skip this one.
March 27, 2022
Good introduction to most of the fields of neuroscience at the 2018 level. Technical at places. Should prepare you for reading a proper textbook.
April 21, 2022
Good information but above my head
April 22, 2022
A decent refresher for someone who's taken a neuroscience course before.
December 31, 2022
Excellent introduction to neuroscience, well-written and accessible to a wide audience.
May 3, 2025
Very detailed
January 20, 2024
I have trouble saying I fully *read* this book. I approached it from different chapters over a long period of time. But I'm putting it on my "read" shelf, finally.
It's clear, informative, and fascinating. I feel I've walked away with new perspectives and that I can return to it as a reference book about the human brain and its history of studies.
It's clear, informative, and fascinating. I feel I've walked away with new perspectives and that I can return to it as a reference book about the human brain and its history of studies.
January 23, 2025
I'm studying BSc Psychology and was recommended this book to read or listen to in regards to helping the understanding of the physiology of behaviour textbook. This helps me to visualise the scientific process of the brain rather than trying to decipher all of the terminology. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in studying the brain or psychology.
September 12, 2023
This was a fascinating read, and I learned a lot. It has peaked my interest and left me wanting to learn more.
December 9, 2024
Can the brain really understand itself? Very scientific book on how the brain works and perceives. Not all is known yet, but we're slowly getting there.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews