#you and your amazing brain

[whimsicaldragonette]

ARC Review: You & Your Amazing Brain by Clive Gifford

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Publication Date: June 6, 2023

Synopsis:

A fascinating book full of insights into how the brain controls your actions, reactions and emotions in ways you've never imagined.  Get to know the grey matter that's living in your head in this brilliant book, full of astounding facts and detailed illustrations , taking you on a complete tour of our own brains as well as brains throughout nature. You & Your Strange Brain includes an unusual mix of surprising science, history, natural world examples , cultural amusement and astonishing stories all focused on brains , intelligence and learning in humans and other animals. Discover why you can’t tickle yourself , why adults like foods they hated as children and how some sneaky creatures have the ability to take over the brains of other species. Learn about the mechanics of the mind , the parts of the brain, memory, language, creativity and the role of sleep. Other topics covered include how the brain allows you to think , guess and make assumptions as well as how it copes with  problem-solving, fear, stress, phobias and even optical illusions. This truly detailed book is the complete guide into the workings of the brain , perhaps the most intricate and powerful organ in the whole natural world!

My Rating: ★★★★★

*My Review below the cut.

My Review:

Kiddo (9) and I really enjoyed this book of facts and information about the brain. He says he would give most of it 5 stars except the drilling holes in people's heads part was gross and scary so he would give it a 4 overall. XD

There is a lot of information about what people have historically thought of the brain, contrasted with what we know now. There are diagrams of the brain showing each part and what they do. There are explanations of how the brain gets information and how it uses that information to make decisions and then how it affects the rest of the body in order to make those decisions happen. There is a lot of information about hormones and where they originate and what they do. Kiddo and I learned a lot. I have never encountered a better explanation of all the things the brain does, and I took high school- and college-level biology classes.

There were also a lot of 'try this' optical illusions and logic puzzles to solve and since we were reading it as a bedtime story those sections didn't work as well. We have gone back the next day to try some of them, however, and will try more. I just think they would have worked better (for us) sectioned off into a "try this" section instead of scattered throughout the chapters. (Even though I understand the logic of placing them in the section where the theory is talked about.)

My kiddo is 9 and loved it but he also loves science in general, so I would put the target age a bit older for most kids -- except for those who love science 8 or 9 is fine. I think having an adult reading along in that case helps to ease understanding because of the reading level of the text.

This would be a great addition to an upper elementary or middle school science classroom. The brain isn't covered too often in such classes and it's fascinating and useful to know about.

Kiddo has now asked to read it a second time less than a week later which says something about how interesting he finds it.

On our third (and fourth) read-through, I skipped a lot of the 'try this' puzzles because we'd already read them, and I actually found that I came away with a better impression of the book and the information it contained. I think the puzzles broke up the information just enough that it felt like less than is actually there. I have revised my previous thoughts because I don't think I gave this enough credit before.

*Thanks to NetGalley, Quarto, and Words & Pictures for providing an early copy for review.

[dirtgrubber]

it feels good. it feels right.

@morningstarwrites thankyou for this weeks chapter. i’m not crying… You’re crying

[capricores]

if you have strong mutable (gemini, sagittarius, pisces, virgo) placements then you NEED to write things down if you don't already. all those thoughts that constantly swirl in your head: the frequent tasks, goals, feelings, aspirations, opinions, etc - WRITE THEM DOWN. this is not only therapeutic & stress-relieving for you but almost necessary, or you're going to burn out and overload your own mind constantly.

when you bottle, or when you let plans, goals, dreams, to-do lists, projects, etc live solely in your head - you'll notice you can't sleep as well, it's harder to rest, your memory gets more foggy than usual, you feel burnt out and unable to connect, etc. specifically:

write down your feelings. this will be your ultimate (free) therapy. start to journal, write a diary. make a private twitter/tumblr where you spill your feelings, frustrations, thoughts. you will feel an immense sense of relief by writing or typing your feelings out - even if no one is reading it but you. mutable moons especially. our feelings tend to change rapidly, but it doesn't make them less valid. don't bottle out of the fear your feelings will change/you'll just "get over it"!! write it down and let it out!!

write! to-do! lists!!!!! these don't have to be for important things. you want to learn digital art? you want to study coding? you want to learn french? you want to re-decorate? you probably have a billion things you want to do, and then you get overwhelmed by the options, and do nothing. write down all the things you want to do. make a to-do list for these things. get them out of your head and somewhere permanent/physical. looking at the options in front of you will feel much easier.

make excel project trackers (you can even make these for to-do list items/goals/etc)! mutable placements have a tendency to start a lot of projects or tasks, and never finish any of them. make a simple tracker for all the projects you start. you won't forget what you're working on, and you'll be less overwhelmed trying to remember what you have going on (example of the one i always use pictured below)

talking out your thoughts and feelings is also very cathartic. make fake (or real, i support u!) youtube vlogs where you spill your feelings and talk about your plans, your day, what you have to do, etc. talk to someone you love and trust, vent to them about how things are; or about what you're getting up to. i find writing has an edge, because you can go back to it for reference (mutables tend to forget things easily) - but as long as you're getting the swirl of your mind somewhere outside of your head, you'll feel so, so much less stressed.

mutable dominants tend to constantly live in go-mode, we're restless and always doing something. we feel uncomfortable and sometimes guilty about staying still. our minds don't ever shut off. it's very important for mutable placements to learn how to rest, be present in the moment, and learn grounding. this can be done in many ways, but i've found personally that writing works best for me. other helpful practices can be: talk therapy, acceptance theory, yoga, meditation, hiking, camping, etc.

i also want to remind mutable signs: we change a lot. we have a lot of ideas. there's so much we want to do. we often feel like we have no path, no big goal; we can struggle with purpose as we don't often aspire for permanent things or "one big goal". this is NOT bad. there is nothing wrong with changing your feelings, your mind, your goals, your life path. you CAN do all the things you want to do! you have your entire life ahead of you! yes, you can learn all those languages. yes, you can have three different careers in your life. yes yes yes! don't listen to negativity from others. don't beat yourself up for not having one big goal like some people around you might. cherish and embrace all the things you want to achieve and complete (both big and small). learn to follow-through with and finish the things that matter to you (writing things down will really help with this, make action plans/steps - break everything down into smaller pieces). take the time to slow down and enjoy the moments as they come. you got this!

[inklore]

ily writers who write plus size reader ily writers who write oc fics ily writers who write in third person ily writers who write gender neutral reader ily writers who only write fluff ily writers who only write smut ily writers who write indulgent self insert’s ily writers who only write 100 words ily writers who write series ily writers who write lgbtq reader ily writers who write spectrum reader ily writers who write disability rep ily writers who write male reader ily writers who write poc readers ily writers who write dark content to heal ily writers who write dark content for fun ily writers

[bugtoast]

HOW WE FEELIN POOTIS NATION?!?!?!

[yrsonpurpose]

Happy Christmas, Henry

[inumbrapugnabimus-maybe]

@adrift-in-thyme! After about half a year I have finally redrawn this panel for you! So sorry it took me this long XDDD

og panel (by @linkeduniverse) and also my sketch under the cut!!!

[guardian-angle22]

NICHOLAS GALITZINE answers fan questions

[brewed-pangolin]

A million thank you's to the amazing @temeyes for bringing the enthusiastic menace that is Gym Rat Soap to life.

I can not begin to tell you how much I'm in absolute LOVE with this depiction of him.

I may let loose some very (VERY) NSFW Gym Rat Soap imagines/drabbles that embody Soap MacTavish from the game. But before he graces your screens and steals the spotlight of my inspiration, this is how he appears in my head.

Bouncing around like a madman while I'm trying to maintain some semblance of sanity.

And now he will forever be my snicker (attention) needing gremlin. Powerlifiting his way through the walls of my subconscious until I finally feed him and let him loose onto the unsuspecting Soap Squad.

So much love to you, Tim! 💛

[obliviouskara]

Honestly supercorp authors are one of the most talented writers i have come across with bc seriously the fics i’ve read recently

[umblrspectrum]

ive been drawing a couple things but they're all sekaiju or oc stuff so i don't think you guys would care about any of that

[spirkbitch]

people who write spirk fics that are plotted and formatted like a tos episode but just with spirk included

i love you and i want to kiss you on the mouth

[triona-tribblescore]

HI TRIONAAAA ajshdjkdhkj omg ur appearance and thoughts made me literally so happy!!!! hope ur doing well!!! lysm /p <333

NO BECAUSE YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH ITS BEEN MICROWAVING IN MY BRAIN THIS WEEK ISTG-

ARCHIIIEEE :'DDD <33333 Omg How are you?? I hope you are doing so so so amazing and that life is treating you so well and not too overwhelming or anything!! Devouring your art is my serotonin fr-

[rottmnt-residuum]

Hiii, hope I’m not late for the party

I had a lot of fun drawing this

Here’s the original

BEAUTiful

[autisticrosewilson]

Talia even being called an assassin gives me the ick because when she was first introduced she hated killing, felt immense guilt the few times she had to, and most of the time if it looked like she killed someone it turned out to be anaesthesia or a tranquilizer or something. Like she was literally studying to be a doctor when her and Bruce met and she was based off of the stereotypical Bond Girl because it was the 70's. Like I know it's basically her entire character now that she's an "assassin mom" or whatever but that was not who she was intended to be and I hate how it's done most of the time because it's ALWAYS a way to point and say "look at the evil brown woman! She's a cold blooded killer who forced/passively allowed her son to kill as well! It's a good thing that the feral brown boy is now with his good white family so he can learn the value of life and art and how to exist in civil society!" And it's actually really pissing me off. You guys don't even read a characters introduction comic before you start writing the same regurgitated nonsense steeped in racism and misogyny. Damian's whole character as it stands is basically character assassination for Talia and in order for me to be able to engage with him he'd have to be entirely rewritten.

[potato-lord-but-not]

wife here, I love you too <333 However, I am ever so slightly offended (not really) that the reason you'd assume that previous ask wasn't me is because of the lack of sources and not that it says "love you" without the "I" when my brain was permanently wired to do my absolute best to never ever ever do that to you after reading

Do you remember the way the girls would call out “love you!” conveniently leaving out the “I” as if they didn’t want to commit to their own declaration.

I agree that the “I” is a pretty heavy concept and hope you won’t get uncomfortable if I should go into some deeper stuff here. (Berman par. 19-20)

two years ago. I mean no offense to people who do that, especially since in other contexts I also say "love you". But when it comes to you I never want to be someone who doesn't commit to my own declarations. I love you. And that is a declaration that I am committed to, and want ownership of and responsibility for. And I feel a little weird about sending you this as a tumblr ask and not a text or something, but that seems antithetical to what I'm saying. Being slightly obnoxious by sending you my declarations of love publicly feels like the same sort of thing as making sure to say the "I". Like how you're required to have witnesses at a wedding.

I love you so much. I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I will never be over the fact that I get to say that. My love for you is a fact of the universe, so I might as well use all three words.

Works Cited (sorry, you asked for it)

Berman, David. “Self-Portrait at 28.” Poets.Org, Academy of American Poets, poets.org/poem/self-portrait-28.

No you’re so right actually, and bold of me to assume you’d send an ask that wasn’t a paragraph or two long. But anyway, I love you moreee I haven’t even read the poem but I find myself consciously adding the “I” whenever I type “love you”, cus you deserve for someone to say it with their whole chest… I love you <3