In The Tell-Tale Brain, V. S. Ramachandran addresses the question of what makes human beings different from all other animals. Of course, the culprit is the brain. Thinking, beating, beatingwhoops, thats Poe.The author is at the forefront of neuroscience; the book describes the current state of the art, which is not as far advanced as some other sciences. In the epilogue, he compares it to the stage of chemistry in the nineteenth century, discovering the basic elements, grouping them into categories, and studying their interactions. We are still grouping our way toward the equivalent of the periodic table but are not anywhere near atomic theory.This book goes into detail on some of those elements and their interactions. Mirror neurons fire not just when you do something, but when you see someone else do it. Googling mirror neurons, I find that the interpretation of what they do is highly controversial. But Ramachandran makes a good case for them being important in human social behavior. Then there are areas in the brain that determine body image and map how the body relates to the space and objects around it. I just read a book by a psychiatrist (The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her Head by Gary Small) in which he relates a case of a man who felt like his arm didnt belong there and who had a fairly strong desire to have it amputated. Dr. Small of course looked at it as more of a psychological problem, though he balked at a Freudian interpretation. Ramachandran postulates convincingly that this problem is caused by defective cells in the area of the brain that controls the arm part of body image. In other parts of the book, he discusses many aspects of language, the senses, and consciousness.I give the book five stars because it is full of fascinating concepts, many of them new in the last ten or fifteen years. Yet I have problems with the basic thesis that humans are unique among animals because we are so much smarter, we have language, and we have consciousness of self. Its unarguable that we are unique; weve populated the planet and filled it with our structures (and trash). I love thinking and reading and all kinds of human stuff. But Ramachandrans viewpoint, and that of most of his fellow scientists, seems rather, well, speciesist. He obviously considers humans to be superior to and more important than any other species because of our differences. This kind of thinking holds us separate from that ecosystem, and I disagree. We have crowded those other species out of most of the planet; our effect on the ecosystem has been devastating. I also am appalled to see him casually mention research in which the researchers observed (using electrodes) how monkey brain cells fired under various circumstances. Yikes! These are the people who torture and murder monkeys and other animals. My beliefs go against animal research (yes, Im vegetarian too). (And Im trying not to get recursive about how Ramachandrans theories might predict or explain my viewpoint.) Some of Ramachandrans speculations will undoubtedly turn out to be true. Many of them wont. In particular, many of the ideas in the chapter about art seem silly to me, and my guess is that in fifty years they will look as archaic as the idea of phlogiston does now. This doesn't take away from the quality of the book, as he emphasizes how speculative it all is. The book is full of concepts that I found exciting and stimulating, and I highly recommend it.

Mindblowing book. It talks about so many interesting brain disorders, explores the evolution of language, vision, autism, the concept of beauty, how Human beings are social, and the concept of 'self awareness'. It feels like the most exciting area of research at present (probably even more than AI).

I've been introduced to the field of neurology/neuroscience by Ramachandran and his amazing cases.This book summarizes what Ramachadran has done till now and his great innovative way of thinking.

Having had read (and did I mention loved!) 'A brief tour of human consciousness', I was a bit disappointed with first half of this book -- the content fit the general theme, however it all felt like only an incremental addition to already established concepts of phantom limbs, synaesthesia, mirror neurons etc. So, if you are in the same boat as me - don't despair; hold on to this gem. Because what's in second half is a fresh perspective on language and art and brain's role in it all.Neuroscience is an inherently interesting subject. It's in that nascent stage where every piece you touch is waiting to unravel its secrets. But ironically it's also an area which is garbled with way too much jargon which can act as a barrier for a layperson. Not with VSR's writing style though. He's witty, he's profound, he's top-notch!

After seeing him speak on a TED talk, I was curious to read his latest book. He's made his complicated field accessible and overall I found it entertaining and thought provoking. As he states, neurology is a field that's rapidly changing, we learn more each day, and what he presents here is a work in progress and certainly not the final word. But as neurology can explain questions that have long perplexed us, it seems well worth it to learn from an expert how much more we've already been able to understand already (and how far we have to go). I especially liked the chapter on autism. On the negative, I didn't enjoy the meander towards the end on art and thought these chapters felt disjointed from the rest of the book. Throughout, he made interjections that I think he thought would lighten the tone...but seemed to be irrelevant and detract from the point. Not his fault, but reading this on the Kindle meant that the illustrations were hard to decipher. Overall, anyone can get something out of this book. And I suspect that now that I've read it, I'll get more out of other articles or books dealing with some of the subjects he discusses and be happy to have a deeper understanding.