Ben Waber reviewed Brainscapes by Rebecca Schwarzlose
Best for Teenagers
3 stars
While science books written for general audiences will necessarily be simplified, this book takes that to the extreme. For teenage readers I actually think this would be a great book, but most of the book treats the reader as unsophisticated and unable to reason. This improves later in the book, but for those with some knowledge of neuroscience the oversimplification here is grating and the gaps between those simplifications and the scientific consensus are barely explained. For books on the senses (which is what this book is mostly concerned with) "Where We Meet the World" by Ashley Ward is much better. The less said about the AI and technology sections the better. There is still some good scientific explanations buried in the middle of this book, but it can't overcome the flaws of the rest of the volume.
While science books written for general audiences will necessarily be simplified, this book takes that to the extreme. For teenage readers I actually think this would be a great book, but most of the book treats the reader as unsophisticated and unable to reason. This improves later in the book, but for those with some knowledge of neuroscience the oversimplification here is grating and the gaps between those simplifications and the scientific consensus are barely explained. For books on the senses (which is what this book is mostly concerned with) "Where We Meet the World" by Ashley Ward is much better. The less said about the AI and technology sections the better. There is still some good scientific explanations buried in the middle of this book, but it can't overcome the flaws of the rest of the volume.