Eagleman's Incognito: The Secret Lives Of The Brain

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Eagleman begins his book, Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, by describing to the reader the unconscious acts of the brain. He asks the reader to question actions of their everyday lives, and to think how much control they actually have over them. Eagleman wants readers to open their eyes and see the unseeable world of the unconscious mind. Think about the world around you and what you are missing. Can you feel your tongue resting in your mouth or hear the sound of AC in the room (Eagleman 28). After awaking the conscious mind, it is evident that the uncomfortable feeling of your misplaced tongue will stay for quite a while.
In discussing the brain and how it processes sight, Eagleman introduces Mike May. Blinded from a young age, May underwent surgery to have his sight restored. The surgery was a great success; the man had his sight back, but not his “vision.” In the brain, there is a large gap between seeing and understanding. For example, the following text “שלום” can be seen, but you have no idea what it says. The brain is unable to understand thing it cannot understand (obvious enough), instead it attempts to fill in the missing pieces of the …show more content…
Imagine that you are driving in the left lane and you would like to move over to the right lane.” (55). Eagleman presents this simple task to the reader and gives the explanation that almost everyone will have “held the steering wheel straight, then banked it over to the right for a moment, and then straightened it out again.”(55). Of course this is the wrong thing to do as it will lead to you crashing off the road. Although, why does your mind think this is the right thing to do? If you think about all the routine tasks in your life, odds are you will be unable to accurately describe doing them. Your unconscious mind would be in control and it would be hard to remember doing something that “your” brain didn’t even
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Incognito The Secret Lives Of The Brain By David Eagleman

In Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, David Eagleman explores the role that the unconscious plays in people’s everyday lives. Eagleman gently introduces and guides each reader into the massive world of psychology without overwhelming the rookie or boring the experienced. Eagleman begins at the surface and continues to dive into depths that begin to concern moral issues. In the beginning, Eagleman introduces the subconscious, which plays a secret major role in our everyday decision making…

Words 375 - Pages 2