It's All In Your Head

Its All In Your Head was a book outside my normal genres of reading. The subject matter is fascinating but an educational read?? Again, not my usual go to entertainment. However, this book IS A MUST READ. It was fascinating and fun, not a tedious text book.~ It was pages of a-ha moments. and snorts of sarcastic laughter as I recognized things said as describing myself or others I know. I actually really truly liked this book and wish I could just put it in front of people and say, "Trust me! Read it!"

An informative and revealing book updating lots of misconceptions and providing a great balance of science and example/anecdote. A must read!

Did you know that 7,000 brains are stored in Harvard's brain bank (honestly, I never even knew Harvard HAD a brain bank) or that the average person blinks 5.2 million times in a year?

Blanchard not only has fun and interesting mind benders in It's All in Your Head but also includes facts and tidbits about the inner working of your brain. From Sensory perceptions to orgasms, Blanchard has covered a wide variety of things you never even knew you wanted to know.

I loved this book. A lot.

Despite all my anatomy experience, I always hated/avoided neuro. The brain has always freaked me out, and I shouldn't admit this, but as someone who has taught anatomy and physiology to high school students and TA'd it at the college level, to this day I can't name all the parts of the brain or tell you where they are. I purposefully have blocked that out from my brain (lol) because it's just too much to comprehend. Same thing with embryology. (It's amazing we even exist, considering all the things that can go wrong during fetal development. But, that's another story for another day).

Things I loved about it:
- This book is pretty. Like, it's super aesthetically pleasing.
- It's formatted like a textbook with sidebars and infographics and photographs and blocks of text, but it doesn't feel like a textbook.
- The author's writing style is A+++. It's conversational, but still technical enough that it isn't dumbed down. He throws in pop culture references throughout and a little humor, and overall it's just so very well done.
- Literally touches on almost every topic in neuroanatomy/neurophysiology. He's found a nice balance between breadth and depth.
- THERE'S A BIBLIOGRAPHY! Granted, it's several pages long and the font is super tiny to fit everything in, but I love that. Why? Because this book is well-researched. It uses actual science and evidence. (Unlike two books I read recently that angered me so much because they talked about studies and never cited a damn thing to support their claims).

If you're curious about the human brain, or about anything it does, check out this book. It's literally mindblowing (see what I did there?) It's an easy read and well worth your time.

Thanks Netgalley for the ARC.

Fantastic book! It’s All In Your Head is enlightening, educational and fun! Despite the rather serious material, it is written quite conversationally, engaging the reader almost immediately. I have had an interest in neuroscience for some time now, but this book is definitely not just for nerds like myself. Discussions include meeting your transmitters, discovering the parts of your brain, understanding neuroplasticity and the brain’s hemispheres, how thoughts work, brain scans explained….the list goes on. As you can tell it is a comprehensive, informative book that is expertly written. It does not suffer from being dry or overwhelming, as some books in this genre are can be. It is just a fascinating read!