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Rating: 
Summary: Don't forget Autism
Review: Although this is a fine book, many others have recently pointed out that autism spectrum conditions may also have contributed to the emergence of the modern human mind. It too is found in all racial groups to an equal degree. I was disappointed that autism's contribution to the emergence of the human mind was dismissed in less then one page, saying that autistic people have too narrow a focus to their obsessional interests to be of any use. As a person with an autism spectrum condition, Asperger Syndrome and a PhD student, I find this disappointing. I am not saying that the central thesis of the book is incorrect, but the additional contribution of autistic people was ignored. I believe it is likely that both conditions worked to create the human mind. I imagine autism brought mathematics, physics and engineering, affinity for physical systems and predictable logic whereas Schizophrenia brought us art, religion, randomness, lose association and novel creativity. You can see that both conditions could intertwine and contribute. The association with autism and schizophrenia appears genetic. Einstein, now considered to have had Asperger Syndrome, had a son who was Schizophrenic. Also note that autism was not distinguished from as schizophrenia until the 1970's and it's milder form, Asperger Syndrome, was not accepted as a valid diagnosis until the 1990's. To balance this book I would recommend Prof. Fitzgerald's book, Autism and Creativity: Is there a link between Autism in Men and exceptional ability.
Rating: 
Summary: For ever changes the way you look at the mentally ill
Review: David Horrobin argues that, as long ago as 3 million years ago, early man - homo erectus - lived close to and off water - rivers and lakes - and his diet contained a fair amount of fish as well as bone marrow from captured animals (who in turn lived off the water). This fish - and animals living off fish or other aquatic organisms - in turn contained so called fatty acids which allowed our human brains over time to become much more creative. Modern human brains consist to a large extent of fat. Hence also, why humans are so much "fatter" then our closest relatives, the chimps. The essential fatty acids in our diets enabled our existing brain cells to better communicate with each other. But a side effect of this evolution was the emergence of schizophrenia.
At some point around 150,000 years ago, someone must have been borne with a genetic mutation which we now call schizophrenia, although his or her behaviour was more what we now would call schizoid, i.e. light schizophrenia. Horrobin argues that throughout human history schizophrenics were often very gifted people, who were creative, held very strong dogmatic beliefs and had an ability to do whatever it took to get to the top. All qualities that made schizophrenics ideal candidates for dictators, priesthood and artists. As such, schizophrenics played a vital role in human evolution. One of the many fascinating facts described in Horrobin's book is that there is a strong correlation today between highly creative thinkers - say Nobel Prize winners - and schizophrenia. For many highly gifted people, there is a close relative suffering from schizophrenia
Unfortunately, first the agricultural revolution, with its move away from a diet containing abundant fish oil, and our modern diets, full of saturated fats, the wrong fats for our brains, have turned a condition which had possibly more positive than negative effects into one where the patient is often a danger to himself and others (often the mother).
This book has some amazing implications, such as, the world is not black and white, with 99% being normal and 1% completely abnormal, but many of us are a little abnormal (and few may be "completely normal" ?), or, that mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, manic depression or even dyslexia are all related and people affected by them are paying the evolutionary price for the creative brains of other, normal people, to the extent that there is a strong correlation between such illnesses even within families and the existence of highly gifted family members.
Rating:
Summary: Informative and stimulating reading
Review: This book is an informative and stimulating reading about mental illness, its physiological basis and its role in the history of human development. I enjoyed reading this book. The information about how the brain works and the theory on how mental illness develops are well described. The text is not difficult to follow for the layman and not boring at all for the scientist. From accurate descriptions the author develops his and other people's theories on schizophrenia and other mental illnesses. I found his hypothesis very imaginative. Some of them are based on solid datas, others are most speculative and, quite frankly, become too far-fetched. Nevertheless they are stimulating because they have an interesting global and holistic view of the matters involved. By reading this book you will learn a lot about neuropathophysiology and anthropology and you will be amused by some very interesting theories which, if proven true, will very much change the common way of looking at mental illness and human history. I recommend this book to all readers interested in popular science and I must acknowledge an entertaining writing style and impeccable scientific approach to references and to critical thinking. The author has demonstrated to be both knowledgable and creative.
Rating: 
Summary: The basic premise is flawed
Review: This book, like many others published today, presumes that mental illness is 'genetic', just because child abuse runs in families. Child abuse is the (obvious) cause of all mental illness, but is conveniently ignored by modern 'scientists' who will do anything to avoid facing the painful feelings in their subjects. People are not 'schizophrenic', they are reacting to the abuse they suffered as children. The modern invention called 'evolutionary psychology' is another attempt to completely ignore the ever present suffering of children in modern society, in all countries.
The natural (genetic) human state of the brain is happiness, free from fear, anxiety and anger. When a child has been brought up by parents who truly love him/her, with no violence, that child will grow into a calm, intelligent, non-'mentally ill' person. Unfortunately, almost 100% of the population of the planet are betrayed by their own parents, who routinely use violence against them. The fact that 'schizophrenia' runs in families is used to 'prove' that it's caused by 'genes' - this is utter codswallop. Violent men and women pass their violence onto their children, just as their genes. The fact that you can trace genes in violent people back for twenty generations merely means that their great great (etc.) grandparents were abusive towards their children. The genes are merely markers for family history. The current (braindead) acceptance of 'my genes made me do it' is very dangerous indeed - whole groups of people will be refused jobs, insurance, and other vital parts of life, because of completely irrelevant 'genes' 'for' whatever illnesses their parents happened to get. The author also mentions the 'association' between dyslexia and schizophrenia: anybody with an ounce of sense could see that abusive parents are unlikely to spend much time teaching their children how to read, because they themselves weren't taught to read properly either. ('Dyslexia' is caused by bad teaching methods, as simple as that, as Dianne McGuinness has proved in her book "Why children can't read".) Basically, read it with a pinch of salt, and always consider the alternative viewpoint (which you never hear any more) that child abuse actually affects people...
Rating:
Summary: Highly Recommended
Review: Those with axes to grind or with vested interests (pharmaceutical industry execs, autistics or child-abuse "victims" apparently) will find this book not their cup of tea. But for every other person who wishes to understand the dice-toss of genius vs. madness, this is just the book to get started.
Rating:
Summary: Highly Recommended
Review: Those with axes to grind or with vested interests (pharmaceutical industry execs, autistics or child-abuse "victims" apparently) will find this book not their cup of tea. But for every other person who wishes to understand the dice-toss of genius vs. madness, this is just the book to get started.
Rating:
Summary: The basic premise is flawed
Review: To begin with, I purchased my copy from Amazon.co.uk, the British arm, well over a year ago. Even being shipped from England to the U.S., it's still probably the best way for an American to buy this great book... You may have heard various movie characters at various times say something along the lines of "We all go a little bit insane sometimes". Horrobin shows pretty convincingly that "we ARE all a little bit insane at ALL times". In essence, the biochemical manifestations of serious mental illness, when LESS chemically severe, manifest themselves as creativity, imagination, audacity, fixation, obsession, compulsion, etc. A given person might in fact be "3% manic-depressive/bipolar", "2% schizoid", "4% paranoic", etc., and not only function well on a daily basis, but actually function as a great thinker, artist, inventor, or world leader. Take the "quirks" of major leaders in World War II - from Hitler with his sheer terror at his own flatulence, Stalin drawing 1000 red pencil pictures of wolf heads ever day, De Gaulle regarding himself as "the male Joan of Arc", Patton thinking he had lived dozens of times previously, and Roosevelt allowing both his own and his wife's mistresses to live on the same floor, to Churchill greating world leaders in the buff. All "a little bit insane"? Not so very different from the rest of us, each with his or her own eccentricities...and all very, very human. This book is both intellectually and socially important to the exact extent it forces us to look at humanity and its mental condition as a full range, rather than categories and "cut-off points". Most highly recommended!
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