Product Description

Forget what you thought you knew about yourself and open your mind – wide … ‘You are part reptile, part mammal, part primate. You are a dopamine fiend. You are a walking assembly of patterns and waves, clusters of neurons firing in sync with one another…’ In Mind Wide Open Steven Johnson takes us on a journey to the frontiers of brain science and reveals exactly how we’re hardwired to think and feel. Experimenting with the latest technology he discovers (among other things) that everything we do – from falling in love to forming a sentence – is caused by neurons firing and chemicals swirling around our heads; that there are gadgets which can enable us to control our own brainwaves; that everyone’s mind, like their fingerprint, is unique; and this can help us understand our own mental foibles – and see ourselves in a totally new way.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #72385 in Books
• Published on: 2005-05-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

The Guardian
'Johnson offers a refreshingly personal take on an endlessly fascinating subject'

Times Educational Supplement, June 4, 2004
'It buzzes with snappy explanations of all kinds of new ideas'

About the Author
Steven Johnson is the author Emergence, which was shortlisted for the Helen Bernstein Award for Excellence in Journalism. Johnson’s writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s and The Guardian, as well as on the op-ed pages of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. He also writes for Discover magazine and Wired.com, and was co-founder of the award-winning websites FEED and Plastic.com. He teaches at New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program, and has degrees in Semiotics and English Literature from Brown and Columbia Universities.

Customer Reviews

entertaining neuroscience!
My current favourite author tackles neuroscience - and I can understand and be fascinated by it! After reading this revealing book I searched out the Baron- Cohen test of my autism quotient to find out how good I am at mind reading. Steven Johnson expounds the importance of mind reading, which we all do every day in our social contacts, and differentiates it from empathy.

The left side / right side description on the brain is well known. The fundamental tension between instinctive emotional memory (amygdala) and reasoning memory is not so accepted but is so startingly obvious when entertainingly explained. Freud is brought in from the cold.

The mode of action and chemistry of attention, love and laughter are fascinating. Sexual climax and social bonding triggers opiod release into the brain whilst dopamine is not so much a pleasure drug as a kind of pleasure accountant - it assesses how much experienced actual rewards match predicted level of rewards you are expecting. It explains why some people can take cocaine and stop. With other people the cocaine interacts with neurotransmitters and your dopamine thresholds expect greater rewards and you will develop a craving for more cocaine to satisfy it.

The book expounds the view that neurotransmitter profiling has the added benefit to gene profiling in that it takes into account life experience.

The balance of hormones from adrenaline to oxytocin to dopamine to endorphins, serotonin and cortisol is fascinating.

A whole array of stimulating and thought provoking issues.

a pleasant symphony
A highly entertaining, thought provoking, and pleasant read. It's sort of a blend of science and popular philosophy, the musings of a creative and bright guy. Mr. Johnson addresses a subject that is of great interest to me, namely neurotransmitter systems such as serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine. He also touches upon Peter Kramer's "Listening to Prozac" and the neurotransmitter personality model of C. Robert Cloninger. Mr. Johnson points out that low serotonin may be the cause of the psychological condition of rejection sensitivity, although this may actually be caused by a high level of norepinephrine as well. My only significant criticism is that Mr. Johnson may be speculating a bit much, and making somewhat of sweeping generalizations to suit his own ideas. Nonetheless, this book is well worth reading. Author of Adjust Your Brain: A Practical Theory for Maximizing Mental Health.