Its happened to all of us at some point. You walk into the kitchen or flip open your laptop or stride confidently up to a lectern filled with purpose and suddenly havent the foggiest idea what you re doing. Welcome to your idiot brain. Yes it is an absolute marvel in some respects the seat of our consciousness the pinnacle (so far) of evolutionary progress and the engine of all human experience but your brain is also messy fallible and about 50000 years out-of-date. We cling to superstitions remember faces but not names miss things sitting right in front of us and lie awake at night while our brains replay our greatest fears on an endless loop. Yet all of this believe it or not is the sign of a well-meaning brain doing its best to keep you alive and healthy. In Idiot Brain neuroscientist Dean Burnett celebrates blind spots blackouts insomnia and all the other downright laughable things our minds do to us while also exposing the many mistakes weve made in our quest to understand how our brains actually work. Expertly researched and entertainingly written this book is for everyone who has wondered why their brain appears to be sabotaging their life and what on earth it is really up to.
