Review by Booklist Review
Forget Doc Brown's DeLorean. Buonomano has discovered a more exciting and real time machine inside of every human head! Peering through the neuroscientist's eyes, readers probe the neural circuitry of the prefrontal cortex, where neurons that helped early hominids navigate space have been astonishingly repurposed to traverse time. Who, indeed, will not marvel at how the human brain sustains entire networks of internal clocks so synchronized that they defy the natural pull toward temporal chaos? Only wondrous neural coordination gives split-second precision to a dancer's chassé, a pianist's glissando, or a comedian's punch line. Transcending anything found in other species, Homo sapiens' time sense allows us to envision the distant future and our own inevitable death. In dissecting the neurological basis for that time sense, Buonomano and his colleagues hope ultimately to understand the conundrum we call consciousness and the riddle manifest in free will. A neurological understanding of time even offers a new perspective on Einstein's apparently timeless formulas explaining relativity. Armchair scientists must make time for this excursion!--Christensen, Bryce Copyright 2017 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Buonomano (Brain Bugs), a neuroscientist and professor at UCLA, explores how our brains shape our perception of time, as well as how time itself has shaped our brains. Evolved for optimizing our survival, our brains mark the passage of time and remember the past, using that knowledge to predict the future. For example, Buonomano notes that upon hearing a list, a person will assume that the items in it have occurred in the same order in which they were listed. How our brains process language is dependent on how they process patterns in time. A person's internal, circadian clock is fueled by biology through a neurological "feedback loop" that is stabilized by chaotically shifting signals in the brain. For a neurologist, this is all pretty common knowledge. Things get really intriguing for readers when Buonomano looks at how our sense of time fits into our comprehension of spacetime, Einsteinian relativity, and the nature of the physical universe. Buonomano covers a lot of territory, but each section is vividly written and accessible, and he treats the most complex topics with refreshing clarity. Readers looking for a thoughtful and provocative exploration of time will find this a worthwhile resource. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
What is the most important function of the human brain? Well, one takeaway from this lively book on that beloved organ is that it enables us "to predict and prepare for the future."Futurity, predestination, affordances: heady matters, indeed. But, at a more genial level of questioning, why does time fly when we're having fun? It moves, after all, at the same relentless pace as it does when we're experiencing misery. The answer lies in perception: when we're in the midst of something grueling, unpleasant, or dull, we think obsessively about how long it's taking. On the other hand, writes UCLA neuroscientist Buonomano (Brain Bugs: How the Brain's Flaws Shape Our Lives, 2011), "as they unfold, interesting and engaging activities seem to fly by, in part because we are not thinking about time." Whether not thinking about time will make that airport delay any more tolerable may depend on other variables, but the point remains: for humans, governed by internal clocks rather than the ultraprecise atomic time scale that machines and economies depend on, time's passage is all about how we perceive it to be moving. Buonomano examines, for instance, the "slow-motion effect" in which time seems to slow to a crawl, as when, in his case, he suffered a bad car crash. He considers such events by means of competing hypotheses, one of which bears the suggestive name "metaillusion," and none of which undermines the larger point about perception. The author observes that almost every region of the brain is implicated to some extent in our ability to keep time, such that "most neural circuits are intrinsically able to keep time if needed." Writing in eminently accessible prose that is nonetheless backed by some fiercely hard-edged science, Buonomano also looks at a few thorny philosophical and epistemological problems through the lens of time, considering, for instance, whether free will is not really a matter of timing in decision-making. Fascinating throughout and a pleasing vehicle by which to think about thinkingand the passing hours. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
