All Too Human

It's not been easy getting any reading done over here, but I have now finished Human by Michael Gazzaniga though I can't honestly say I did it justice. It's one of those popular science tomes, in this case aimed at explaining how the brain functions on a biological level (if that isn't tautological) and what it is about that functioning that distinguishes us from the other forms of life with whom we share the planet. Gazzaniga obviously knows his stuff and tries hard to get the reader to grasp the fundamentals, but there are lots of these and I found following the thread of each chapter challenging to say the least. On the positive side, at least the author wasn't oversimplifying and it's nice to know that mirror neurons are still there in the text waiting for me to read about them all over again and get a little closer to expanding my understanding of these great grey matters.

The only thing I didn't like about the book were the attempts at humour. Gazzinaga, sensible man that he is, obviously admires Steven Pinker and seems to be attempting to emulate both his wisdom and wit. The wisdom is okay but the wit is forced, rarely stretching beyond that sort of irritating breezy facetious brightness beloved of the Dummies series rather than emerging from a genuine way of looking at the world as it does with Pinker.

Having taken the best part of the month to complete Human I've found myself halfway through Neil Roberts's study of the work of probably my favourite modern poet (if you can use 'modern' in that sense any more) Ted Hughes: A Literary Life in less than five days. It's not so much that it's well-written as that I find the subject latter so fascinating. I'll probably be using it as in-flight reading, presuming we get away from Manchester according to plan, along with Orhan Pamuk's The Black Book. It's enough to make me actually look forward to the epic sixteen hour journey to come.