Friday, April 1, 2011

Supersizing the Mind, Andy Clark

I truly hate to say it, but I was disappointed with Carl Zimmer’s latest book, Brain Cuttings. I couldn’t get the sample chapter to download,* so I went ahead and downloaded the whole thing



The problem wasn’t the content, which is illuminating and written in the pleasant, lucid manner of his blog posts. ...Well, actually, therein does lie the problem: it appears it essentially is a collection of his blog posts (and an article from Playboy), lacking a real introduction, conclusion, or material in the individual chapters tying them together. This is disappointing as Microcosm



was one of the best books I read last year. Anyway, the very bright spot is that it introduced me to the work of Andy Clark, whose Supersizing the Mind



I’m now reading. (This introduction, of course, could have come earlier had I read *ahem* the original blog post.) I’m about a quarter of the way through Supersizing, and it's captivating. Undoubtedly not for everyone – for those unsure, the sample gives a good sense of the book as a whole – but I’m quite taken with it.

* (Now I’m further annoyed because Kindle is telling me it can’t be opened and that I have to redownload it; does this mean my highlighting and notes are lost?)

2 comments:

  1. Let me also recommend Louise Barrett's "Beyond the Brain"--not perfect, but excellent.

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  2. Thanks, C! I've added it to my list.

    ReplyDelete