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For the past few months, a desire to "improve my brain" has been lurking in the back of my thoughts, trying to make it on my mental list of Things to Do. I vaguely considered buying a book of logic or mathematical puzzles, and then this audio book happened to come along at the perfect time. A coincidence with deeper significance? I think so, but I know what the author of this book would say about that. Mozart's Brain and the Fighter Pilot consists of 28 suggestions to help you "improve mental powers", each of which makes up a chapter. The first chapter is the most "technical", and provides a fairly detailed description of the brain's physiology. I found this very interesting, but it might be overkill for some people who would rather not know (or horribly redundant for people studying biology or neuroscience). Other chapter topics include the importance of both exercising and resting the brain; meta-cognition ("thinking about thinking"); exercises to improve memory and visualization skills; the positive and negative roles technology can play in our mental processes (in the sense of speeding transmission of information while encouraging laziness of thought); and the importance of healthy attitudes and practicing "mental hygiene". I listened to this audio book twice, and both times I noticed something was missing. Near the middle of the second time, I realized it was the author's sense of humor! He presents a lot of important and interesting information, but in a way that comes across as a six hour lecture. He tries to provide illustrative examples most of the time, which is good, but what he comes up with is not very creative, and is sometimes surprisingly bland. His apparently extreme and unconscious rationalism extends to a discussion on coincidence in which he says that we should appreciate coincidence to "enrich the present moment...not as revelation of some deep inner meaning - although that may be true". About the possibility of an "unseen force" driving these coincidences he says, "I guess that's possible [condescending tone], but such an explanation is really nothing more than an unverifiable, rather eerie act of faith in some unknown mysterious power." His skepticism, lack of spiritual motivation and subsequent lack of creativity is boring to me and seems glaringly like stunted intellect. This is especially apparent since many of the authors and philosophers he refers to and quotes throughout this book were driven by strong spiritual beliefs. I personally didn't appreciate his frequent mention of animal experiments (that make up the shameful core of neuroscience), and he neglects to discuss the tremendous effect diet has on brain function. People may come away from this book with the idea that memorizing lists of number and random words will improve how they use their brains, while continuing to fill themselves with hydrogenated fats, refined and processed foods (loaded with aluminum), produce laden with pesticides, and drugs of all sorts (caffeine included). Currently, when there is such a high interest in preventing and treating dementia, this omission is particularly noticeable, not to mention the effect these things have on our emotional well-being and health in general. Overall, this an interesting audio book, good to listen to while on a long car-trip or at work (if your job allows), but it could have been much better with some creative input and at least a broaching of the topic of diet. The exercises he describes are definitely reasonable if you are interested in that sort of thing. I won't be sitting down any time soon to find out how many numbers I can memorize before I reach my limit, or going through the expense of buying a bonsai tree so that I can try to visualize its every detail. I was looking for more of a philosophical work on how to use the brain's powers. I think some of Einstein's writings would be more rewarding to me. I'll check those out next.
Reviewed by Emily Kolod, August 2003
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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