Thomas’s Reviews > The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons: The History of the Human Brain as Revealed by True Stories of Trauma, Madness, and Recovery > Status Update

"Reading changes the way our brains work."

I like his statement "Human memories live in overlapping neuron circuits that can bleed together over time".

"The ultimate biological purpose of memory isn't to recall the past per se, but to prepare for the future by giving us clues about how to act in certain situations."

I wonder how much of this book is just getting stored as episodic memories. It's a great read and I can follow it, but there's so much medical terminology mixed in with the stories that it's difficult to call too much "memorable" in my opinion. :P

I don't think the existence of free will of our physical bodies is nearly as much at question as the free will of our conscious thoughts, beliefs and decisions. Though even I'm caught wondering just how much control a Capgras victim has over that. Can you CONSCIOUSLY decide against the deduced logic and/or emotion of your own brain? I don't think there's a way to even measure that accurately or not.

"The mind's defenses are ingenious, designed to silo your insanity to one topic and spare the mind in general."