Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind [Paperback]

Many, many neuroscientists pick "safe" topics and stick with variants upon a theme all their lives. The work is often valuable, but it is not exactly akin to a spectator sport. Ramachandran, in contrast, chooses "sexy" topics to study.

Most neuroscientists write primarily for their scientific peers. Ramachandran (with Blakesee) has written a book that is at once valuable to his peers and fascinating to everyone. And if you've ever seen Ramachandran speak (either to scientists or the general public), you know what I'm talking about, and you know that the book is not a fluke.

Ramachandran does not think like other neuroscientists. Most neuroscientists pick a topic or area of the brain, and then do systematic, parametric, sensible experiments to map and test the minute details of their theory. There's usually lots of data collection and data analysis. But Ramachandran has a knack for creating "breakthrough" experiments routinely. In these experiments, the answer to a sexy question comes instantly, dramatically, and powerfully. Such creative, intuitive genius is extremely rare. Trust me, we'd all like to do science this way.

I hope that we can appreciate that Ramachandran incorporates a wide variety of worldviews as he creates gem after gem. He is from the great culture that was and is southern India; he is a medical doctor and neurologist; he is a reknowned perceptual and cognitive neuroscientist who trained with master academics in England; and he is passionately insightful about art. I've heard people compare Ramachandran to mystics, healers and others. The cult status is of course a little ridiculous. But the enthusiasm is understandable. And the book is wonderful. I recommend it!

By far the best and more original of the explanations given are those concerned with visual illusions and the phantom-limb phenomenon. Taking the idea that there is a body-matrix genetically mapped in the brain, Ramachandran explains phantom limb pain in a simple and plausible way. The map of the lost limb is taken over by adjacent maps (brain plasticity) and when someone stimulates the thing that is mapped in the second map, there is feeling in the missing limb. In the hand case, it turns out the face is mapped right next to it, in the brain. Ramachandran found that by stimulating the face, he could arouse phantom limb feelings in his patients. HIs experiments with the mirror-box are also really interesting.

Ramachandran also explains how the brain "fills-in" information, like in tha case of the blindspot. He also explains many visual illusions. The rest of the book reads like a case study of different sindromes, like Capgras, Neglect,Propagnosia among others. For example Ramachandran describes patients that see cartoons in little soctomas in their blind fields, or people who claim their relatives are not "the originals". So at the end there is a lot of field discussed, but no semming unification or a grander theory. Ramachandran also touches in controversial issues like "the god part od the brain", presumably in the limbic or temporal regions.

I enjoyed the book, and it was a good read. It is a good overview of some neuropsychology, and it is a fast and easy read. But it is not very original, nor speculative.

Brilliant.