Brain Twisters: The Science of Thinking and Feeling by Clive Gifford and Professor Anil Seth

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Brain Twisters: The Science of Thinking and Feeling by Clive Gifford and Professor Anil Seth

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Buy Brain Twisters: The Science of Thinking and Feeling by Clive Gifford and Professor Anil Seth at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Category: Children's Non-Fiction
Rating: 3.5/5
Reviewer: John Lloyd
Reviewed by John Lloyd
Summary: A very varied non-fiction title, ranging from fun tricks to complex science. It might suffer from that lack of focus in the marketplace, but will never talk down to the reader.
Buy? Maybe Borrow? Maybe
Pages: 64 Date: August 2015
Publisher: Ivy Press
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 9781782402046

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Meet the brain. We all have one. We all use it (and by 'it' I mean a heck of a lot more of it than the 10% of urban myth) every second of the day. We engage with different parts of it for balance, catching a ball, memorising a list of moves in controlling a video game character, or understanding things ranging from written instruction to body language. It's such a vital part of the body, taking up 20% of our glucose fuel intake as well as of oxygen, that understanding of it cannot come at too young an age. But in this varied and complex book, looking at a varied and complex subject, I do wonder if the right approach has been taken at all times.

We start with the structure of the brain, and look at connecting neurons as well as divided hemispheres, and in just a few handy double-page spreads we cover reflex actions, the study of brain function, the whole nervous system and more. We then launch into each of the senses in turn, but these sections certainly put paid for me to the idea of this being a book for the home library. Like I say, anybody would want to give their young child a head start on learning about the mind, but the somatosensory cortex, anyone?

Still, we have seen 'homework' such as testing your reflexes and your depth of field perception, and been given some optical illusions (possibly left over from this book's sister title, Eye Benders). It's just it seems a long time before these take front and centre in the book, and with a title such as Brain Twisters and with the stated mind-teasing aims from the back cover, I expected more of a funky and fresh look at the subject.

Once the neurology ends and the psychology begins there is more for us to engage with in the way of tricks and mental teasers – we see triangles that aren't there, we suffer in reading out colours printed in non-matching hues (seeing the letters 'RED' in a blue ink makes it a lot harder than you think to declare what colour you're seeing as opposed to reading), and we're questioned over emotions, risk perception and more. I think these pages will be thumbed over a lot more, but I still wonder if this book is perfectly pitched to a purchase for the home. And I still think some of the pages are more accurately targeting a young secondary school pupil than the primary student.

If this is bought then as a 'my first psychology' book, be prepared for a lot of work to keep the subject appealing. The book doesn't talk down to us at any opportunity – it never even labels the front or the back of the cross-section illustrations, leaving the astute to work out the 'frontal cortex' is the, er, front (and the more astute to wonder why on earth we evolved to process visual information right at the back of everything). There is a glimmer here and there of a great book, and one that shows me why the prequel won a prize from the Royal Society, but I felt the spread of puzzles, tricks and trivial games very imbalanced, meaning the quizzical reader may well leave this title early.

I must thank the publisher for my review copy.

A slightly younger audience can make their own brain-boggling 3D isometric imagery – and learn all about many maths concepts as they go – with This is Not a Maths Book by Anna Weltman.

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Buy Brain Twisters: The Science of Thinking and Feeling by Clive Gifford and Professor Anil Seth at Amazon You can read more book reviews or buy Brain Twisters: The Science of Thinking and Feeling by Clive Gifford and Professor Anil Seth at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
Buy Brain Twisters: The Science of Thinking and Feeling by Clive Gifford and Professor Anil Seth at Amazon You can read more book reviews or buy Brain Twisters: The Science of Thinking and Feeling by Clive Gifford and Professor Anil Seth at Amazon.com.

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