Review i - "Brainscapes: The Warped, Wondrous Maps Written in Your Brain―And How They Guide You"

Brainscapes

 

A marvellous cover (US too), a fascinating, clearly written and hence readable book. As expected today the layout, print size and design add enjoyment to the time invested.

As a nurse with an interest in science you are aware of much of the content in broad terms but 'Brainscapes' provides more detail and made me wonder about the prospects to follow from improvements in brain imaging, The Connectome, new technologies and techniques. Rebecca maintains the focus throughout.

I'm pleased to add this to my CPD reading list.

Nature and science are humbling. It is still quite recent that we realised the milky way is one of billions of galaxies. Now we can appreciate not only the complexity of the brain, but how it is embodied in mind, body and our experience of reality.

There is history here to begin. Russia and Japan were at war in 1904. Russia had a new high-velocity rifle with smaller bullets, 7.6mm reaching speeds of 620 meters per second. Whether co-incidence, and/or ironic, there are of course many brains trying to make sense of the current conflict in Eastern Europe. A change in injuries followed with these bullets capable of passing straight through the skull, sparing the life of the soldier and yet with life altering injuries. 

As triage was founded on the battle-ground. So aftercare is grounded in the journey back 'home' for those who can make it and the extent to which 'veterans' and their families are recognised.* This lead to investigations (Inouye, see below) as soldiers experienced localised damage to the brain. Soldiers suffered scotomas affecting their vision, stimulating research and new approaches, devices 'cranio-coordinometer'. There are illustrations and some photographs throughout, the illustrator Paul Kim, adding to the text.

In 'Maps of You' maps are everywhere especially on screens, and yet as Schwarzlose notes the map's materials matter little. On p.17 "All I need is a pen and a scrap paper" I smiled - given the 'map' that Hodges' model provides, on paper, sand, black/whiteboard and mind's eye. Mental imagery is there too. Salience, figures early p.19 and with brain maps, visual maps and where we direct our gaze prompts more detailed consideration of context. The explanations of the sensory brain maps is fascinating, especially how the brain has evolved to deal with constraints of space, energy, distance and organisation. At the fovea in the eye, the map is magnified. 

Perhaps in Hodges' model there are two fovea? One is the center of the model, the person-centred nexus an assurance function/correction as the fovea that is context shifts and jumps in response to the dynamics of the situation. Reading about the audio map, p.73 I thought about the 'timbre of care' (Yes, I've a bad case of h2cm-meme-mapitis). As a further sign of the times, chapter 5 (A Body Under Siege) on taste and smell and the protective function of what we do or don't ingest, I travelled from the individual to the national and the binary choices (yes or no) being exercised right now.

More to follow ...

Alexander P. Leff (2015) Tatsuji Inouye (1881–1976), Discovery UCL.
https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1491645/1/Leff_tatsuji_inouye_1881-1976.pdf

Many thanks to Rebecca Schwarzlose and Profile Books for my review copy.

*Apologies for digression...