Rating: 
Summary: A remarkable popular science writer, but gets carried away.
Review: Johnson is a remarkable popular science writer, with a talent for language and metaphor comparable to that of a very good novelist. He is also very bright, objective, personable and does his research well. Even when I was familiar with a particular subject area, I learned a lot or understood things better. While my background is better than some, this is a book accessible to all. Johnson's objective for "Mind Wide Open" is to help the reader live a better life by providing the kind of understanding that leads to more aware self-examination - not the usual kind of objective for a popular science work. I believe this objective, as well as Johnson's own enthusiasms, may have led him a little astray. The chapters I liked least were on bio-feedback (Johnson is on the board of a bio-feedback company, as I learned from one of his footnotes), and functional brain imaging. Both chapters centered on Johnson's personal experiences, not as a way to explain science, as elsewhere, but as some kind of personal adventure which is supposed to demonstrate the potential of these tools for generating self-awareness. The rest of the book is so interesting, I really begrudge the loss of what could have been in 2 additional chapters. Mind Wide Open is particularly strong in its discussion of memory and emotions (fear, love) and on the role of the body's owns drugs, which cocaine and the like mimic. As part of his summing up, Johnson has a wonderful discussion of how Freud can be updated to provide a modern theory of psychology.
Rating: 
Summary: Clear writing, interesting content grinds to a sluggish end
Review: Maybe I shouldn't dock the book a star or two on account of the sheer drudgery and pointlessness of the final 35+ pages, but unfortunately, it was like having a tasty meal and then finding a cockroach in your dessert. I don't know whether the publisher insisted on the author tacking on the Conclusion section or if it was more organically contrived by the author himself, but it doesn't work. We have essentially up until page 183 some interesting anecdotes and introspections from the author related to developments in brain science. These I enjoyed quite a bit. Johnson took the tact, fittingly, of an investigative reporter in subjecting himself to neurofeedback measures and MRI scans. I found it very interesting to hear about procedures in great detail that have been heretofore only terms in passing to me. His writing style is fluid, and he manages to not get overly-techie in his descriptions. He dotes perhaps a little too much on his gift of writing, but while a tad annoying, that was certainly a forgivable sin.It's when we get to that rather lengthy Conclusion section that Johnson hits the wall and seems suddenly out of his element and expertise. At least my expectation was that he would synthesize his analysis from the previous chapters into some kind of cogent summary or at least speculate based on his findings about the path forward for neuroscience. Instead, it becomes largely an odd hommage to Freudian ideas, purveying Freud as a greater visionary than he's been given credit in recent years. It was tedious and not particularly insightful. For one, the author clearly recognizes the infirmity of what he's saying. He consistently adds qualifiers about how Freud's model strains here and there, about how we have to "fiddle" with aspects of Freud's theories to make it applicable to what we now know about brain science. I kept asking myself "why are we doing this exercise?" Like any good astrological writeup, Freud's ideas were often sufficiently vague and verbose as to be extrapolated to explain just about anything. Any theorist with untestable theories puts himself in the position as Freud did to continue cobbling on ideas to account for more and more of the exceptions to his theory that are discovered. Simply because Freud wrote and expounded a lot in terms that were difficult to operationalize and empirically measure does not mean that he had any greater insight into what modern-day neuroscience tells us than any other theorist. Johnson simply abandons his logic too often in this section and tries to make a Freudian connection to neuroscience that feels contorted and artificial. With such an affinity to the father of psychoanalysis, I wouldn't be surprised if Johnson is planning a future book to further elaborate on Freud, that is, unless the Conclusion chapter for this book got it out of his system. Read the book and you'll probably enjoy it...up to page 183.
Rating:
Summary: So Many Openings
Review: Mind Wide Open is a remarkable, very entertaining, and complex read. This is not a 'science' book; nor is it a self-help manual. It is about all of us and each of us; about the human condition that we experience each moment, day, and life. It is a precise expose of the marriage between our mind and our soul, told in the voice of discovery. Perhaps the best testimony that I can give is this: as I read Mind Wide Open, I could not stop thinking about the many and very different people that I wanted to recommend it to. Whether you are a poet or a parent, a teacher or a tradesman, this book will enthrall you. Part of this is the the author's style. Johnson is funny, personal, and earnest. He alternates between sharing his own musings and vulnerablities and recounting what he has carefully learned and experienced. When you read this book, you may feel the astonishing sensations that I did; your mind thinking about your mind within the context of your own experience and Johnson's perspectives. This was a visceral experience for me. As much as Mind Wide Open will stimulate you, it is also a book that begs to be read more than once. Rarely do I read a book that I want to completely re-read again; I suspect that many others will feel the same. I must admit to having scant, if any, interest in 'brain science' before reading this book. That has changed. What lies in our head not only influences our thinking; it catalogues our evolution and our pursuit of life's meaning. Mind Wide Open is a book that allows the reader to understand him/herself in ways that we have never explored before. This is a superb book. I highly enjoyed it, I look forward to enjoying it again, and I give it my highest recommendation.
Rating:
Summary: Fallin' off the edge of my mind...
Review: Screw your head on tight before cracking this one, friends. It's like H.G. Wells on acid, or something Aldous Huxley would have written had he been alive today. Potent stuff.
Rating:
Summary: Features cutting-edge brain research
Review: Steven Johnson's study of the neuroscience of everyday life features cutting-edge brain research, blending experiential reporting and personal storytelling with scientific insights to reveal how the brain works, its routines and structures, and how attention and knowledge is achieved. Unusual in Johnson's Mind Wide Open: Your Brain And The Neuroscience Of Everyday Life is the author's inclusion of himself as his own test subject, participating in a battery of attention tests such as learning to control brain waves and scanning his own brain with a MRI machine. All this is related to everyday reaction and thinking habits, making Mind Wide Open a recommended pick.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting read into some aspects of mind's functioning
Review: The author got curious about how his brain (and human brains in general) worked. He decided to find out. His experiences alongwith background information form the contents of this book. He divides his narrative according to different neurological aspects of everyday life: mindreading(social interactional cues); handling and emotional aspects of fear; observation and attention handling; humor; mood and stress management; and finally his experiences under a fMRI scanner. There are some pretty nice observations correlating bioochemical activity to qualia and behavior but this book is not a detailed observation and analyses of cognitive activity. Readers familiar with popular neuroscience won't find much new material here. The prose is lucid and the book can be fun for newcomers to neuroscience.
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Summary: Law of the Hammer
Review: There are several good books about the mind. Robert Jourdain's "Music, the Brain and Ecstasy" and Antonio Damasio's "Descartes' Error" are two I have already studied. This book is not quite as good but the writer does offer information about some matters which are not touched upon by those (for example a discussion of mirror neurons)and perspectives that reorganize the information from the two sources already mentioned. The only drawback is his using the 'law of the hammer' which states that if you give a child a hammer he will find that everything he encounters needs pounding. Johnson's emphasis on the relation between chemicals and the mind is summed up in his own basic premise, "you are on drugs" (p.138). Whilst no one would argue that the chemicals in our body and brain have no effect on our mind to argue that they are everything ("without hormones (and other brain chemicals, like neuro transmitters) none of us would have personalities in the first place." 139)is a bit hyperbolic at best. Still, the author does an excellent job of presenting the latest research in a lively, interesting and accessible manner.
Rating:
Summary: A User Manual for the Brain
Review: This delightfully well written book uses everyday English to explain an incredibly complicated subject. In his introduction, Johnson states the obvious - that most Neuroscience books assume a certain baseline knowledge of the brain which your average person lacks. He wants this to be an approachable book, so he keeps the technical terms to a minimum, always explaining them first and using real world examples of how they apply.
Many scientists would criticize his methods - namely, using himself as his primary test subject. If he were trying to prove new science rather than explain information to a new audience, I would agree. Instead, I found his quest to understand the inner workings of his own brain fascinating. I found myself wondering what a fMRI would reveal about me, wondering what I'd learn from neurofeedback, wanting to try the various attention tests he describes, and wanting desperately to play computer games controlled by my own brain waves.
In addition to being well written, I find this book well organized. Johnson starts with a broad introduction, a sort of guided tour of the brain. He then breaks the brain up into numerous modules, explains how those modules work individually and more important, how they work in concert with other brain modules. The end result is incredibly complex without any individual stops on the tour being overwhelming.
Unlike many pop science books, he doesn't try to lump people into distinct categories, instead opting to present everything as a set of overlapping spectrums. He furthermore suggests you have the power to change where you are on spectrums through conscious choice. Moving from one end to another might be wishful thinking, but becoming a little more this or a little less that just requires determination and work.
For me, the most significant parts of the book were the explanations of the autism spectrum and the facial expression reading skills. Johnson warns that after you learn a little about these, you'll find yourself analyzing your friends and family. That's very true. For the first time, I found myself capable of understanding and even enjoying the company of someone I know with Aspeger's. A little context made a world of difference.
If you're not familiar with neuroscience, this book can have a real impact on how you perceive people around you - in my opinion, for the better.
I don't casually pick up books on neuroscience, so I was pleasantly surprised by just how good this one is. It's one I know I'll read again. I can't recommend it enough.
Rating:
Summary: Cognitive Psychology Lite
Review: This is a nicely written but fairly insubstantial book on cognitive psychology, filled with personal anecdotes (prepare to hear about Johnson's children on every third page) and tentative attempts at practical advice. Johnson is particularly intrigued by biofeedback and the fact that an fMRI test confirms that he's generally smart but "no rocket scientist." The book should be subtitled, "My Very Short Experience as a Cognitive Psychology Dilettante." Steven Pinker blurbed the book, and readers who are interested in something more substantial should follow that link to Pinker's own work, particularly How the Mind Works.
Rating:
Summary: Makes my brain happy
Review: This is such an enlightening straight forward book which will leave you mulling over these ideas of brain and self long after you have finished he last page. Since we so often mistake knowing how to use our brains with actually understanding its working that it is easy to forget just how much we still don't yet fully understand about its hidden workings.
No, this book does not live up to its title of `Mind Wide Open' in that it shines a light into every hidden area of the mind but that is part of the charm. While heightening my understanding of the inner workings of the mind it still leaves a since of mystery- a foreshadowing of future research. It is also important that Steven Johnson doesn't loose his since of wonder at the brains complexity while attempting to explain it. There is still much room left for the reader to mouth the word "wow" upon reading a passage.
The main problem of this book is that it makes me want to rush out and get thousands of dollars worth of scanning and testing done of my brain activity I think I will be able to fight off the impulses and settle for the insights that Mind Wide Open offers.
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