Brain Rules

Readable and memorable summation of the state of knowledge in how we think. All of this will be familiar if you've read Sapolsky, Ramachandran, Fisher, or any of the hot neuro writers. But if you haven't, you owe it to yourself to read this book. This is important material, helpful as a guide to lifelong learning.

Medina practices what he preaches. His writing is vivid, reinforced by the very “rules” he discusses. You can see and read his twelve “rules” at brainrules.net, but his book really drives them home in a useful, productive way. (I quote “rules” because this isn't rules in the “rules you should follow” kind of book; it's more “rules of thumb”, or “this is our best guess as to how the brain works”. Think “rules that are there whether you like it or not, and you should be aware of”).