Summary Of Incognito By David Eagleman

Throughout the informative nonfiction book, Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, written by David Eagleman, different scientific processes and ideas are explored through clear explanations. Composed of topics such as psychology’s influence on legal procedures, along with how the brain parts work together, Eagleman crafts a book to inform readers in an interesting way. His diction is simple, and yet the intricacies of his ideas are advanced and scientific in nature. In writing the book, he achieved his goals of opening the eyes of more people to how psychology is woven into our lives at every moment, and the brain is an elaborate engine. Though he may not have crafted his own characters, Eagleman uses the cases of several patients to

The case of Kenneth Parks is explained, since he was a man who murdered his mother-in-law and attempted to murder his father-in-law all while he was sleepwalking. Eagleman begs the question of whether it was Parks fault, and if it was not, then is if all criminals are not faulted for committing a crime when they have a mental disorder. He asks how far the scale can go to forgive a person of their crimes, a main theme of his writing. The topic is interesting, since gunman that fire away at others because of a tumor in their amygdala, for example, may only have done what they did in the heat of the moment. Though the question remains as to why that person did not see a doctor so that the issue could have been corrected, so it could have also been their fault. If people were to keep forgiving people because they had a mental health issue, then Eagleman asks how the courts could keep criminals off the streets if they always forgave them. The issue is a topic that applies to today’s world easily, with how many tragedies and shootings occur, so it is of utmost

Since I function regularly every day, I do not pay attention enough to why I do the actions I do, along with what pulls me to behave in a certain manner, so this book opened my eyes to that. It additionally gave me insight to the cases of many people, since I never knew the many mental health issues a person could face. In that way, it made me feel thankful that my brain functions regularly, while also motivating me to help others that do not have regular, functioning brains. A quote that stood out to me greatly is “Who we are runs well below the surface of our conscious access, and the details reach back in time before our birth, when the meeting of the sperm and egg granted us with certain attributes and not others” (Eagleman 159). The quote is meaningful because I have always thought that I have shaped my behavior because of the way I grew up learning, but the quote let me know that certain actions of mine are due to my genetics. It settled the issue for me that in the argument between nature and nurture, whereas I always assumed nurture had the greater impact, the true answer is that they both influence me in equal ways.

All of the topics recounted in David Eagleman’s Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain are branched out to readers in a concise way that allows for a coherent book. It has a practical standpoint on most moral issues, though both sides