David Eagleman's Incognito: The Secret Lives Of The Brain

David Eagleman's remarkable neuroscience novel, Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, literally puts the human mind to the test. Throughout the novel, Eagleman presents numerous examples, diagrams, and conjectures in order to explain the vital relationship between the mind's subconscious and biological abilities and the body. Contrary to popular belief, Eagleman explains to his readers that the brain is more than just a pink glob in the head of an individual, but the actual control system of the brain that has the ability to perform advanced tasks that one probably would have never imagined. As a whole, this novel definitely invigorated my thought processes as it's informative yet highly interesting connotation kept me wondering what astounding
It certainly caused me to look more intuitively into how amazing the brain actually is and become exposed to revelations about brain facts and functions. A major theme that was presented frequently throughout the novel is the concept that the subconscious mind overrules and overrides every other mental and physical factor. When asked about the brain, the majority of people will say that the conscious mind definitely does the most work in regards to helping an individual perform daily tasks or even controlling their thought processes, but according to Eagleman, this is a common myth. In reality, the subconscious mind controls the most vital and interesting parts of functioning and thought, which Eagleman explains through the use of different allusions and examples. Within
One issue that appeared to be very meaningful to Eagleman is that of the specific genes associated with criminal and how people should take this into account. Unfortunately, in today's society, criminals are present. After thorough testing it became evident that the majority of criminals that participate in crimes such as abuse, homicides, and robberies have specific genes passed down from previous generations that cause them to act in this manner. Furthermore, not only genes can cause criminal behavior amongst humans, but also exposure to physical or mental abuse, drugs, and other harmful substances—Eagleman mentioning lead poisoning and in utero cocaine. What is most problematic about this is that ordinary people undermining criminal behavior being somewhat natural in some beings by attempting to put themselves in the shoes of these criminals and stating that they would never behave in such a manner. Eagleman appears to take this topic close to home as he practically calls people out for doing this and explains that if a person was never exposed to the genes and stimuli that can be attributed to criminal actions, then they automatically have no right to compare their well-rounded upbringing to that upbringing of a criminal. Even though the behavior of criminals in certainly not excusable, it is not fair for people who weren't