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Rating: 
Summary: A wonderfully entertaining book..couldn't put it down!
Review: From the author who founded neurogastroenterology. Gershon gets pretty technical, but even a layman (like me) is drawn into his interesting subject. The book chronicles his thirty years of research into the "second brain": the independent nerve mass literally in the gut. Probably most doctors today aren't aware of this whole type of nervous system even though its presence was discovered decades ago. (This is why digestion is not affected by spinal injuries.) Somehow this body of knowledge was forgotton by medicine. 'Eclipsed' is the word the author uses. Gershon "rediscovered" the existence of the second brain and began doing research in the 1960s about the affect of neurotransmitters (like serotonin) and their effect on this bowel brain. In the process of his narrative he explains how different chemicals (like Prozac, LSD, adrenaline, acetylcholine, puffer fish toxin, etc) can affect the brain and the sympathetic and peripheral nervous systems. He also discusses diseases like Alzheimer's, etc. The best part of the book is the author's personal family stories which he weaves into his narration. I was very touched by the story of his mother's death from a bleeding ulcer, surgery and subsequent stroke, and Alzheimers. The only problem with the book is that it is at once too long and too short. Too long because sometimes it gets too technical and was a little hard for me to stay interested and excited. Too short because in spite of covering thirty years of research the story is only a prologue. It's part one and part two remains in the future. What are the implications of the second brain? Will knowledge of how it works help cure diseases? We begin with a monumental reawakening. A re-acknowledgement that the second brain is there. What it means we still don't yet know. We have learned that ulcers are caused by viruses. That some depression may be depression of the bowel brain. That Alzheimers effects both brains. But we don't know if problems with intra-brain communication can cause illness. Have we been treating the wrong brain? Can autism and Parkinson's disease be better treated by concentrating on the gut brain? So much promise for the future, yet still a lack of answers. I finished the book feeling a little incomplete.
Rating: 
Summary: The prognosis for the person taking Prozac is troubling.
Review: I was interested in Gershon's hypothesis about the connection between taking the antidepressant Prozac and the potential for chronic neurological bowel disfunction. At first I was swayed, thinking that, yes, the receptors for serotonin would be desensitized by the longer exposure to the serotonin molecules, due to the blocking of the re-uptake receptor by Prozac. He then freightens the Prozac dependant person with the hypothesis that their natural production of serotonin will decline and further that ultimately, the person has to look forward to an irritable bowel followed by bowel immobility...all due to Prozac's action. What I am wondering is this, are these unfortunate effects of Prozac due to the blocking of the re-uptake receptors or is it due to a presumed increase of concentration of serotonin in the enteric nervous system? If the depressed person is on Prozac because of low seratonin levels, then it seems like their levels of seratonin would just be brought up to normal, thus relieving some of their symptoms of depression but not necessarily causing a surplus in the neurotransmitter, serotonin. I wish the author would more clearly explain this and also I would like it if he would explain how the blood/circulatory system relates to the transport of neurotransmitters in both nervous systems.
Rating:
Summary: The prognosis for the person taking Prozac is troubling.
Review: I was interested in Gershon's hypothesis about the connection between taking the antidepressant Prozac and the potential for chronic neurological bowel disfunction. At first I was swayed, thinking that, yes, the receptors for serotonin would be desensitized by the longer exposure to the serotonin molecules, due to the blocking of the re-uptake receptor by Prozac. He then freightens the Prozac dependant person with the hypothesis that their natural production of serotonin will decline and further that ultimately, the person has to look forward to an irritable bowel followed by bowel immobility...all due to Prozac's action. What I am wondering is this, are these unfortunate effects of Prozac due to the blocking of the re-uptake receptors or is it due to a presumed increase of concentration of serotonin in the enteric nervous system? If the depressed person is on Prozac because of low seratonin levels, then it seems like their levels of seratonin would just be brought up to normal, thus relieving some of their symptoms of depression but not necessarily causing a surplus in the neurotransmitter, serotonin. I wish the author would more clearly explain this and also I would like it if he would explain how the blood/circulatory system relates to the transport of neurotransmitters in both nervous systems.
Rating: 
Summary: In the author's own words: this is not a "how to" document.
Review: It's nice to get your colleagues to write glowing reviews, but this book only provides hope and no help to the sufferer of chronic bowel problems. It contains excessive extraneous information (the author is allergic to chickens and uses a Macintosh computer), as if you wanted to know. Dr. Gershon admits "I have cured no one in my lifetime," and that he can still hear his beloved father asking him the question: "What disease is that going to cure?" Gershon says he always had trouble answering that question, and he will leave readers with more questions than answers as well. It's hard to believe this is a serious book since it provides no index, even though published by a major book house. One wonders why someone would write a book only to disappoint readers?
Rating:
Summary: In the author's own words: this is not a "how to" document.
Review: It's nice to get your colleagues to write glowing reviews, but this book only provides hope and no help to the sufferer of chronic bowel problems. It contains excessive extraneous information (the author is allergic to chickens and uses a Macintosh computer), as if you wanted to know. Dr. Gershon admits "I have cured no one in my lifetime," and that he can still hear his beloved father asking him the question: "What disease is that going to cure?" Gershon says he always had trouble answering that question, and he will leave readers with more questions than answers as well. It's hard to believe this is a serious book since it provides no index, even though published by a major book house. One wonders why someone would write a book only to disappoint readers?
Rating:
Summary: Sensationalistic: false advertizing for biomedical research
Review: The author got my attention by promising that he was going to show that psychoanalysis and other psychological causation theories relative to gastrointestinal disorders were false. Once again I was taken in by an author trying to launch his theory by "proving Freud wrong." As with most such claims, he did nothing of the kind. His very interesting and as up-to-date-as-he-could-be picture of the structure and functioning of the gut serves as well to bolster psychological theory as it does biological theory. Only a mind-body dualist could claim otherwise. He offers the lay reader an understandable picture of the various research designs used to seek out genetic, developmental and functional information and, for this reason, I feel I got my money's worth. For all of his otherwise elegant and apparently objective presentation of his material, when he got to discussing psychoanalytical theory, all he could do was dismiss it out of hand with a few snickers and sneers. He did claim that there are few connections between the brain and his "Second Brain," but as it turns out there are quite a few. Cut these connections and the gut continues to function, perhaps much like a chicken with its head cut off. None of this does anything to prove that prior to being cut, the early life psychological experiences of a person might not shape up the "Second Brain" to be under and over-responsive to certain anxiety and stress cues. National Institute of Health research dollars are scarce these days and perhaps he was motivated by need to discredit others who might be competing for the same dollars (all at an unconscious level, of course). It is amazing that as he appeals for such strict objectivism, so much of his subjectivism shows through. One last concern; he seems to be saying that this extensive neural organization in the gut is as complex as the brain and, thus, deserves to be seen as a "Second Brain." He might be spending a bit too much time by himself in his laboratory. It takes a lot more that large amounts of Seritonin to make a brain.
Rating: 
Summary: This book needs an index.
Review: The long tradition of first rate scientists who are also talented writers, such as Lewis Thomas and James Watson, is happily continued in "The Second Brain". Gershon describes the operation of the gut for the layman, managing to strike just the right tone without insulting one's intelligence or oversimplifying. The book, frequently witty and amusing, is part memoir and part up-to-date primer on the operation of the gut. A particular triumph is a description of a shootout at a scientific meeting in Cincinnati where Gershon's theories about the importance of seratonin were debated. Later sections of the book become quite technical, such as the seven (?) different varieties of seratonin receptors described in Chapter 9. This is very detailed, but the problem here is that the very complex mechanism that nature has built does not satisfy our wish for simplicity. Gershon tries to show what the scientific struggle to gain understanding is like on the front lines as simple hypotheses often don't work out and complications multiply. In the midst of this complexity, one finds the description of some truly marvelous experiments in embryology. The experimenters replace certain cells of chicken embryos with similar cells from quail embryos. As the embryo develops, it is possible to tell what's become of the originally implanted cells and thus trace the details of embryonic development. The elegance of the experiments and of the tools (immunocytochemical analysis etc.) is very impressive. I would have liked more.
Rating:
Summary: This book needs an index.
Review: This book is timely. Example: amusing comments on the "antacid wars" on TV. The book is crammed with astounding information and remains readable. However, if one forgets what the LES is, the only way to find out is by flipping pages. The lack of an index is inexcusable. The editors should hang their heads in shame. I'm going to wait until they turn on their computers and compile an index before I buy this book. Too bad!
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