Phantoms in the Brain - V.S. Ramachandran and Sandra Blakeslee

Ramachandran is a neurologist at UC San Diego who studies how unusual clinical cases help us understand normal brain functioning. He has done some fascinating work on how mirrors can help people with phantom limb pain resolve that pain. His book gave me an appreciation for how hard the brain is working to construct a seamless illusion of the world around us and continuous sense of self. The book really shines when Ramachandran is exploring interesting clinical cases, and so the last couple of chapters, which are more speculative, drag a bit. But all in all, a really fun book.

I searched out this book after seeing Ramachandran's work mentioned in an Atul Gawande essay, The Itch, which appeared in the New Yorker. You might start with the essay to see if you're interested in the subject matter - I think it's fascinating.

Phantoms of the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind
V.S. Ramachandran and Sandra Blakeslee
1998
Available from Amazon

Don't Think of an Elephant - George Lakoff

If you are a liberal you must read this book. George Lakoff is a linguist a UC-Berkeley, and he writes about why conservatives have been so successful in the US in he last 30-40 years. Conservatives have thought about their values, invested in think tanks to spread their ideas, and shaped the debate for decades. So when George W. Bush talks about "tax relief", Americans have a cognitive frame that jumps immediately to their minds. The cognitive frame is all about how taxes are a burden and wasteful and how anyone who wants to offer you "relief" from them is a good guy. And this frame appears because conservatives have spent 30 years hammering these ideas home in ads, press pieces, media appearances, white papers, and so on. Liberals think that conservatives have just hit on a good slogan, but Lakoff explains how that isn't just so - conservatives have worked hard to make the slogans resonate. And liberals need to do the same thing now. We need to invest money in think tanks, see the building of liberal infrastructure as important, clarify our values, and get our ideas out into the public, all so that our two word slogans will resonate in the same way, so we can make the world a more just and kind place.

Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate--The Essential Guide for Progressives
George Lakoff
2004
Available from Amazon

(Not That You Asked) - Steve Almond

Laugh out loud funny, a collection of essays on random topics - Kurt Vonnegut, reality TV, Republicans, the author's sexual coming of age. Sometimes the book reminded me of Anne Lamott's work - the self-deprecating, political, wry writing of Operating Instructions - though Steve Almond is more political, more outrageous, and less religious. Light and funny.

(Not That You Asked): Rants, Exploits, and Obsessions
Steve Almond
2007
Available from Amazon

American Nerd - Benjamin Nugent

A surprising book. I expected it to be a guy memoir - funny, self-absorbed, autobiographical. But it is much more academic than that, while still being very readable. Nugent traces the history of the nerd stereotype - where did it come from, how is it represented in popular culture, where there nerds in the 18th century (yes, Mary Bennett of Pride and Prejudice was one). He reflects one what nerds get from their distinctive obsessions, like Dungeons & Dragons or Society for Creative Anachronisms. And he uses his childhood experiences and those of his childhood friends to illuminate the subject. I found it an interesting and sensitive discussion.

American Nerd: The Story of My People
Benjamin Nugent
2008
Available from Amazon

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto

Another in the list of books taking industrial agriculture to task (like Michael Pollan's previous book The Omnivore's Dilemma and Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, both of which I also recommend). This book deals more directly in science than either of the other two. The first section talks about "The Age of Nutritionism" - what we do and don't know about nutrition and how the gaps in our knowledge have impacted both nutritional recommendation and our eating habits. The Age of Nutritionism. The second section discusses industrial food production, how that impacts our diet, and how it appears to impact our health. The third section discusses Michael Pollan's particular recommendations for eating, which are summarized on the front of the book: "Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much." An excellent book.

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto
Michael Pollan
2008
Available from Amazon