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The Brain: Everything You Need To Know
Join New Scientist on a mind-expanding rollercoaster ride through intelligence, creativity, your unconscious and beyond.
Congratulations! You're the proud owner of the most complex information processing device in the known universe. The human brain comes equipped with all sorts of useful design features, but also many bugs and weaknesses. Problem is you don't get an owner's manual. You have to just plug and play.
As a result, most of us never properly understand how our brains work and what they're truly capable of. We fail to get the best out of them, ignore some of their most useful features and struggle to overcome their design faults.
Until now, that is.
Featuring witty essays and fascinating "try this at home" experiments, New Scientist take you on a journey through intelligence, memory, creativity, the unconscious and beyond. From the strange ways to distort what we think of as "reality" to the brain hacks that can improve memory, The A User's Guide will help you understand your brain and show you how to use it to its full potential.
Congratulations! You're the proud owner of the most complex information processing device in the known universe. The human brain comes equipped with all sorts of useful design features, but also many bugs and weaknesses. Problem is you don't get an owner's manual. You have to just plug and play.
As a result, most of us never properly understand how our brains work and what they're truly capable of. We fail to get the best out of them, ignore some of their most useful features and struggle to overcome their design faults.
Until now, that is.
Featuring witty essays and fascinating "try this at home" experiments, New Scientist take you on a journey through intelligence, memory, creativity, the unconscious and beyond. From the strange ways to distort what we think of as "reality" to the brain hacks that can improve memory, The A User's Guide will help you understand your brain and show you how to use it to its full potential.
448 pages, Hardcover
Published October 6, 2020
132 people are currently reading
545 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 28 reviews
January 26, 2023
Bought for £3 from the Works. Mostly read this on the train going to work and it was ideal for the purpose.
Chapters are divided into small chunks and bitesize articles that are easy to digest as well as interesting, if not quite fascinating.
A lot of what I read here reaffirmed things I'd read elsewhere or that are sort of common sense theories, but it had the authority of coming from the NewScientist, lending the analysis and conclusions credibility.
Chapters are divided into small chunks and bitesize articles that are easy to digest as well as interesting, if not quite fascinating.
A lot of what I read here reaffirmed things I'd read elsewhere or that are sort of common sense theories, but it had the authority of coming from the NewScientist, lending the analysis and conclusions credibility.
December 15, 2020
This book showed me the importance of self- love and caring not only for our brain but also for our body. I recommend to read this book as many times as you can to realise the importance of knowing your brain and the hacks and tips to boost your memory ❤️
August 5, 2025
1/5
I found very little to like about this book. To start with, the organization is terrible. I understand this is published by a magazine company that typically does articles; however, if you are going to publish a book, then at least try to have some semblance of organization. Secondly, it is pure materialistic, atheistic propaganda that speaks in arrogant conclusions that scoffs at any reader who may disagree with that worldview. Lastly, there are precisely zero sources cited throughout the text. The methodology seems no more credible than a random podcaster who has only done their research through cursory searches on Wikipedia. I would not recommend this book.
I found very little to like about this book. To start with, the organization is terrible. I understand this is published by a magazine company that typically does articles; however, if you are going to publish a book, then at least try to have some semblance of organization. Secondly, it is pure materialistic, atheistic propaganda that speaks in arrogant conclusions that scoffs at any reader who may disagree with that worldview. Lastly, there are precisely zero sources cited throughout the text. The methodology seems no more credible than a random podcaster who has only done their research through cursory searches on Wikipedia. I would not recommend this book.
February 9, 2025
Interesting topics but a bit repetitive at times. Enjoyed the odd quiz questions too. Good to know I score low on the psychopath scale 😂
August 26, 2024
Not what I was expecting.
Chapters are 3-10 pages long and are just kind of random bits of info and history about a discovery, not that interesting.
Chapters are 3-10 pages long and are just kind of random bits of info and history about a discovery, not that interesting.
February 17, 2022
The best thing about this book may also be its core problem; namely, that it skims. However, despite wanting more detail on numerous occasions, this breezy New Scientist publication is super approachable and entertaining, not to mention informative. There are few phenomena more intriguing than the human brain, so the content herein is always fascinating and revealing. Also worth noting, it is divided into bite size chapters, thus making it simple to dip in and extract the gems you want. For all its often limiting brevity, it's a good book to have handy. Nice work, NS (and Alison George especially).
January 14, 2026
A collection of cliches and banalities with few interesting insights, where everything is treated in a superficial manner.
Before discussing all the issues it should be noted that most of the book is not in topic with the title. Judging from title and subtitle one could expect a discussion about the basic neural mechanisms that underlie the higher level thinking. Instead more than half of the book is about popular psychology.
The major weakness is that the few positive aspects are details, bright spots scattered here and there, while the negative aspects are affected by questionable points of view that often encompass large parts. Overall the result is poor.
An ubiquitous negative point is the assertion that people make up their memories. Not because it might be false or true, but because it is overblown. It is a recurring theme that appears every now and then, throughout the entire book, thus it gives the impression that it is a frequent event, in some cases the writer describes the process as if it were a regular, almost inevitable, occurrence. If any reader really took seriously what the book says it might end up undermining their trust in their own experience.
Along the same lines there is the excessive attention and importance they give to the confirmation bias while there are many other biases that would be useful to understand, way more than this one.
Another thing to notice, in the chapter about memories, is the way they discuss from every possible angle the story that without memories people are unable to plan ahead, but end up missing the obvious. Instead of talking in circles they could have cut short by noting that people do not plan inventing from scratch the future steps to follow, they rely on their past experience. Hints to that simple explanation can be found in other chapters in unrelated topics.
Next point is the chapter about intelligence. Almost the entire chapter is affected by a questionable point of view. It reckons that intelligence is something very difficult to define. Science is still unable to clearly understand not only what intelligence is, but it is also unable to define many of the underlying factors. This is something the writers gloss over, apart from the initial acknowledgement. They also underestimate how different intelligence can be from person to person, the incredible variety of attitudes you can find among humans might explain how each of us, seeing things in a different way, can rightly judge one aspect of a problem and fail to see things that for others are obvious. That brings to the more difficult aspect to define, someone's reasoning maybe more or less effective depending on the circumstances and the context they find themselves in.
The oversimplified view they have of intelligence leads the author to claim that there are people more intelligent than others. Adding to that they overestimate the role of genetics against education. The irony is that in the same chapter they explain the flaws of the IQ tests and they know how much the scores they give are affected by the quality of the schooling and they do not even take into account the variability of context and circumstances mentioned above. They mention the EQ tests as a solution, but they overlook that EQ tests are very subjective. They fail to admit that we do not understand intelligence enough to reliably measure it, let alone say that a person is more intelligent than another or that intelligence comes from nature or nurture.
On the positive side there might be the chapter about the self, but the quality quickly drops in the last part when it comes to free will. Here it brings back the old philosophical argument about the full predictability of a mechanical universe, an argument that was refuted a long time ago when scientist began to reason about complexity and define it in mathematical terms. Talking about free will they lost chance to talk about the many ways in which people could be manipulated. We are in an age where the pervasive technologies rendered people more vulnerable, both as individuals and as part of the masses. There is a lot of room for a deep scientific and philosophical discussion, but it is overlooked for pseudo scientific arguments.
The chapter about creativity begins with a self congratulatory story about the superiority of human creativity over the other animals. After that it rehashes a lot of old cliches, it even takes for granted some of the old ones that have never been proven, but are often repeated. It was meant to be a core part of the book, but the result is weak.
In the chapters about Decision Making, the Social Brain and Moral Dilemmas there is a big void. Although they often refer to our instinctive reactions and emotions, the teachings of the ethologists are missing, leaving out important aspects of the problems at hand. The same void is clearly felt also at the end of the chapter about dreams, where the views of atheists and religious people are compared with the usual superficiality.
In the end the book might leave the reader a bit disaapointed, after all the claims that they will find in the book new ways to improve their lateral thinking and decision making it does not offer much more than few dinner party puzzles and trite remarks.
Before discussing all the issues it should be noted that most of the book is not in topic with the title. Judging from title and subtitle one could expect a discussion about the basic neural mechanisms that underlie the higher level thinking. Instead more than half of the book is about popular psychology.
The major weakness is that the few positive aspects are details, bright spots scattered here and there, while the negative aspects are affected by questionable points of view that often encompass large parts. Overall the result is poor.
An ubiquitous negative point is the assertion that people make up their memories. Not because it might be false or true, but because it is overblown. It is a recurring theme that appears every now and then, throughout the entire book, thus it gives the impression that it is a frequent event, in some cases the writer describes the process as if it were a regular, almost inevitable, occurrence. If any reader really took seriously what the book says it might end up undermining their trust in their own experience.
Along the same lines there is the excessive attention and importance they give to the confirmation bias while there are many other biases that would be useful to understand, way more than this one.
Another thing to notice, in the chapter about memories, is the way they discuss from every possible angle the story that without memories people are unable to plan ahead, but end up missing the obvious. Instead of talking in circles they could have cut short by noting that people do not plan inventing from scratch the future steps to follow, they rely on their past experience. Hints to that simple explanation can be found in other chapters in unrelated topics.
Next point is the chapter about intelligence. Almost the entire chapter is affected by a questionable point of view. It reckons that intelligence is something very difficult to define. Science is still unable to clearly understand not only what intelligence is, but it is also unable to define many of the underlying factors. This is something the writers gloss over, apart from the initial acknowledgement. They also underestimate how different intelligence can be from person to person, the incredible variety of attitudes you can find among humans might explain how each of us, seeing things in a different way, can rightly judge one aspect of a problem and fail to see things that for others are obvious. That brings to the more difficult aspect to define, someone's reasoning maybe more or less effective depending on the circumstances and the context they find themselves in.
The oversimplified view they have of intelligence leads the author to claim that there are people more intelligent than others. Adding to that they overestimate the role of genetics against education. The irony is that in the same chapter they explain the flaws of the IQ tests and they know how much the scores they give are affected by the quality of the schooling and they do not even take into account the variability of context and circumstances mentioned above. They mention the EQ tests as a solution, but they overlook that EQ tests are very subjective. They fail to admit that we do not understand intelligence enough to reliably measure it, let alone say that a person is more intelligent than another or that intelligence comes from nature or nurture.
On the positive side there might be the chapter about the self, but the quality quickly drops in the last part when it comes to free will. Here it brings back the old philosophical argument about the full predictability of a mechanical universe, an argument that was refuted a long time ago when scientist began to reason about complexity and define it in mathematical terms. Talking about free will they lost chance to talk about the many ways in which people could be manipulated. We are in an age where the pervasive technologies rendered people more vulnerable, both as individuals and as part of the masses. There is a lot of room for a deep scientific and philosophical discussion, but it is overlooked for pseudo scientific arguments.
The chapter about creativity begins with a self congratulatory story about the superiority of human creativity over the other animals. After that it rehashes a lot of old cliches, it even takes for granted some of the old ones that have never been proven, but are often repeated. It was meant to be a core part of the book, but the result is weak.
In the chapters about Decision Making, the Social Brain and Moral Dilemmas there is a big void. Although they often refer to our instinctive reactions and emotions, the teachings of the ethologists are missing, leaving out important aspects of the problems at hand. The same void is clearly felt also at the end of the chapter about dreams, where the views of atheists and religious people are compared with the usual superficiality.
In the end the book might leave the reader a bit disaapointed, after all the claims that they will find in the book new ways to improve their lateral thinking and decision making it does not offer much more than few dinner party puzzles and trite remarks.
January 25, 2021
Interesting, nothing mind blowing though.
April 15, 2022
Some of it was interesting and new to me. Some of it, I already knew. It was easy to read but at times, it came across a bit arrogant. Don’t get me wrong; I’m interested in what we find out about the world through the works of science, however, at times throughout this book, there were parts where it came across as being a bit condescending and dismissive of other views. Let’s be honest; science doesn’t know all there is to know and throughout history, scientists have been proven wrong with some views. So for someone who is open minded and curious, the arrogant approach at times comes across as a bit of a disappointment.
Still, it’s an interesting, starting-point for when it comes to learning about the brain. For me though, I’ve been interested in the workings of the brain since being diagnosed with PTSD, and have read a lot about the brain, so while interesting, I did find it to be a bit basic. But that’s just me. Still worth reading though.
Still, it’s an interesting, starting-point for when it comes to learning about the brain. For me though, I’ve been interested in the workings of the brain since being diagnosed with PTSD, and have read a lot about the brain, so while interesting, I did find it to be a bit basic. But that’s just me. Still worth reading though.
June 3, 2024
This book gave me a lot of awareness about how the brain works, and awareness is key to improvement. One of the things that shocked me the most is how our subconscious mind decides before we consciously make a choice. You will learn that the brain is a prediction machine that is influenced by language, habits, drugs, and the environment. There are plenty of fun exercises/quizzes that make it more interesting than just a read (though i actually doubt they actually test your mental power). The more you read about the brain the more you realize that it is a magical creation by god, and it makes it even more mysterious that we only know a tip of the iceberg on how it actually works. I recommend it!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 13, 2021
interesting to see how much i’ve picked up in 3 years of psych when little bits all jumbled together. interesting to see someone put together all the things you should know about the brain... don’t think i could put it together in a book and unsure i would have chosen the points the author did. interesting all the same.
August 14, 2023
As someone who is fascinated by how the brain works, I read this and found it very enlightening. The things the brain does, and how we cope with so many different things at the same time, and how the brain copes with so much information.
April 20, 2024
I bought expecting brain related topics discussed in depth. Instead it's an aggregation of multiple articles, interesting ones, but very shallow. For someone who is interested in brain related topics, simple neuroscience and psychology these articles won't add much value.
February 2, 2025
This book was not what I was expecting. It was a collection of short 3 page chapters that read more like article snippets than a cohesive book.
Some of the facts were interesting, but a lot of this is not ground breaking information.
Some of the facts were interesting, but a lot of this is not ground breaking information.
August 21, 2025
Very short chapters that touch upon all different kinds and aspects of neurobiology. Interesting reads, of course only scratching the surface and providing broad summaries of each topic - think wide, not deep. Still a worthwhile read with the one or other interesting insight and learning.
September 3, 2020
Fascinating, especially for wannabe psychologists
January 14, 2023
proper interesting icl, so many psychologists i feel knowledgeable
June 23, 2023
69 - 2023
August 17, 2023
3.5 ⭐️
A little repetitive, but reallyy interesting
A little repetitive, but reallyy interesting
August 2, 2024
Really interesting if you're into learning about this kind of thing! It got a little bit boring towards the end..
December 8, 2024
Not a bad read, can get dogged at certain points but all interesting things to be shown.
June 28, 2025
very interesting
September 8, 2025
I can never help but give books in which I learnt a lot 5 stars, even if they were far from being perfect
September 8, 2024
It's a good reading to know our brain more from different perspectives.
January 16, 2024
A quick overview of popular subjects relating to intellect. Not technical. Inspiring though.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 28 reviews