Sarah-Jayne Blakemore
Autor de Inventing Ourselves: The Secret Life of the Teenage Brain
Sobre El Autor
Sarah-Jayne Blakemore is a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellow at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London.
Obras de Sarah-Jayne Blakemore
Inventare se stessi 1 copia
Etiquetado
Conocimiento común
- Género
- female
Miembros
Reseñas
Premios
También Puede Gustarte
Estadísticas
- Obras
- 8
- Miembros
- 214
- Popularidad
- #104,033
- Valoración
- 3.5
- Reseñas
- 4
- ISBNs
- 29
- Idiomas
- 6
You probably won't find any secrets here, nor learn surprising insights that will change your perspective on adolescents. The main message of this book is: our brain develops over time, it takes up to 40 years to reach its "adult" state, so the brains of kids, teenagers, and adults significantly differ from each other. While we (mostly) understand that kids behave like kids, there might be an expectation that teenagers "grow up" and act like adults - responsibly, maturely, and logically. This book presents extensive proof that brains going through puberty are simply not designed for such things.
Still, the book is an excellent introduction to neuroscience. It explains how the brain works, how it changes, and how it may impact our behavior. It's written in an approachable and conversational manner. It presents extensive research with data, references, and... nuance! It doesn't jump to sensational conclusions but rather shows why causation is not correlation and that there are multiple factors that we can't fully control.
What I missed here was a strong narrative. Except for a few introductory chapters, one could shuffle the rest and the book would still have perfect sense. Every chapter shows that the brain changes over time and adolescence can be a tricky period, only the context changes (e.g. risk-taking, self-control, peer pressure, mental health disorders). The author focuses only on changes in the brain structure and relies mostly on fMRI studies. This is a very narrow perspective, she acknowledges there are more seismic shifts during puberty but does not dare to venture into different territories where she's not an expert.
Overall, it's a good and easy read. I'd recommend it as the first book to read about the internal workings of the brain. But for those who already have some background, I'd rather go with Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst which I find much more comprehensive and engaging, but at the same time more demanding.… (más)