Biology

The Spike: An Epic Journey Through the Brain in 2.1 Seconds

The Spike: An Epic Journey Through the Brain in 2.1 Seconds

  • Downloads：5486
  • Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
  • Create Date：2021-03-28 11:12:56
  • Update Date：2025-09-06
  • Status：finish
  • Author：Mark Humphries
  • ISBN：0691195889
  • Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
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Summary

The story of a neural impulse and what it reveals about how our brains work



We see the last cookie in the box and think， can I take that？ We reach a hand out。 In the 2。1 seconds that this impulse travels through our brain， billions of neurons communicate with one another， sending blips of voltage through our sensory and motor regions。 Neuroscientists call these blips "spikes。" Spikes enable us to do everything: talk， eat， run， see， plan， and decide。 In The Spike， Mark Humphries takes readers on the epic journey of a spike through a single， brief reaction。 In vivid language， Humphries tells the story of what happens in our brain， what we know about spikes， and what we still have left to understand about them。

Drawing on decades of research in neuroscience， Humphries explores how spikes are born， how they are transmitted， and how they lead us to action。 He dives into previously unanswered mysteries: Why are most neurons silent？ What causes neurons to fire spikes spontaneously， without input from other neurons or the outside world？ Why do most spikes fail to reach any destination？ Humphries presents a new vision of the brain， one where fundamental computations are carried out by spontaneous spikes that predict what will happen in the world， helping us to perceive， decide， and react quickly enough for our survival。

Traversing neuroscience's expansive terrain， The Spike follows a single electrical response to illuminate how our extraordinary brains work。

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Reviews

Hans Gerwitz ，

Very easy to read yet thorough survey of contemporary neuroscience。 Not a textbook or really a microhistory， but more correct and intellectually humble than most pop-sci writers like Malcolm Gladwell。Left me craving cookies。

Live Forever or Die Trying ，

Don't let the title and cover fool you， this book is secretly about cookies and navigating your workplace。 Or rather the 2。1 seconds between the time you see the cookie， analyze the position of your coworkers， weigh the risks， and action your arm to grab the cookie。 Wait， how does that happen anyway？The Spike by Mark Humphries is one of the first proper monographs from a university press I have had the pleasure of reading。 If you are not familiar a monograph is defined as "A scholarly piece of w Don't let the title and cover fool you， this book is secretly about cookies and navigating your workplace。 Or rather the 2。1 seconds between the time you see the cookie， analyze the position of your coworkers， weigh the risks， and action your arm to grab the cookie。 Wait， how does that happen anyway？The Spike by Mark Humphries is one of the first proper monographs from a university press I have had the pleasure of reading。 If you are not familiar a monograph is defined as "A scholarly piece of writing of essay or book length on a specific， often limited subject。" In particular Mark takes us on a trip through the brain in The Spike， from the moment the light bouncing off said cookie contacts your eye， to it's trip through the cones， encoding spikes for the first time， taking those spikes down winding roads of axons， cloning them， tipping others to fire off in tandem， and in general creating an electrical storm that results in you grabbing said cookie。What I enjoyed most about this book was the wit and humor Humprhies employed of the course of our story。 This book could have easily been a slough by using nothing but words like "entopednucular nucleus" & "superior colliculus" but Humphries interjects at many points to make analogies for these systems and places in the brain so that the average reader can access this Gordian knot of neuroscience lingo。Onto the subject of the book itself， I feel like I have a much better understand about how the brain works in general after reading The Spike。 If you follow me on socials you know that I review many biological self help books and books on drugs so I get to hear about receptor action pretty often。 However I did not know what I did not know， how do those receptors communicate between each other anyways？ How does sound enter the ear to then become a hallucination at the point of the receptor？ This book is helping me sketch together a more full understanding of the mind。 If this is your first foray into reading about neuroscience I think it is a fine place to start。 You will learn about how your sensing organs transfer outer data into internal communications， how the brain delegates information， how it saves energy by employing parallel computing and so much more。 But， if you know just a bit more than that you will be able to begin combining information that previously was filed away as separate in your own memory， similar to myself and thinking about receptors。All in all I think this is a perfect example of a popular nonfiction book that does not sacrifice quality to appeal to the generalize audience and I would happy recommend it to anyone interested in human biology and how humans work。 。。。more

Sean Noah ，

This book review was written for Knowing Neurons， through which I received a promotional copy of the book from the publisher。 Click here to visit our site， see this review， and see our other neuroscience book reviews。----Recently I asked one of my faculty advisors if he would ever write a popular science book。 He’s a bestselling author in his own right， having written a textbook that many consider to be an essential operating manual for human cognitive neuroscience。 But as for penning a work o This book review was written for Knowing Neurons， through which I received a promotional copy of the book from the publisher。 Click here to visit our site， see this review， and see our other neuroscience book reviews。----Recently I asked one of my faculty advisors if he would ever write a popular science book。 He’s a bestselling author in his own right， having written a textbook that many consider to be an essential operating manual for human cognitive neuroscience。 But as for penning a work of popular science， he denied having any interest。 "I don't want to have to write a book of lies，" he said resolutely。Hot take， but I understand what he means。 Crafting a book that can appeal to the broadest audience requires omitting technical details that take years of study to really grasp。 Consequently， with the trickiest details smoothed down， popular science books too often end up skating over the controversies and ambiguities that mire the forefront of a scientific field。These books claim to offer transmissions from the cutting edge， when actually the growing body of scientific knowledge looks at its extremities less like something that can cut and more like the fuzzy surface of a creeping mold。 At the edge， the supposed line between true and false is really a blurry thicket of conjecture and debate， evidence and counterargument; proxy measures， simplifications， assumptions; confidence intervals， replicability concerns， and controls for long-run error。 Any academic researcher will tell you this。 And often they will tell you this with a grim countenance。 But the task of the popular science author is to portray this thicket from a distance， so that it appears as a line – a sharp， bright line with a cutting edge。 Well， the line is the lie; that’s what I understood my emphatically uninterested faculty advisor to mean。And yet: I am not reluctant to engage with popular science。 Reading books about the mysteries of outer space or about the frenetic machinations of our cells and tissues hooked me on science from a young age。 And even now， after several years of graduate study in cognitive neuroscience， I still regularly turn to lighthearted books about the brain and the mind when I want to see my field with a wider angle and a softer focus。The Spike， by Mark Humphries， is a book that I will return to often for this purpose。 Professor Humphries， Chair in Computational Neuroscience at the University of Nottingham， has woven together strands of experimental results and theoretical insights to compose a book that is engrossing， excites the imagination， beautifully encapsulates contemporary neuroscience in a light and breezy package， and points the way to future discovery。On its surface， The Spike is a story about input and output: What happens when a mote of light strikes the eye， initiating a signal that wends its way through the brain， eventually to prompt a muscle into action。 As the story goes， that bit of light happens to issue forth from a cookie sitting on a desk in an office， and the effect eventually produced is a surreptitious movement to nab the tempting treat。 Against the backdrop of this prosaic little scene is cast the seething， hypercomplex drama playing out inside the skull。 This juxtaposition of the drab and the drastic is hilarious， and the playful tone established by this premise is buoyed throughout the text by conversational language and colorful prose。 For example: Action potentials are the titular “spikes，” synapses are “gaps，” and at one point the structure of cortex is described as "a delicately layered cake， six layers in all， five layers crammed with juicy neurons， the first， top layer bereft of them。” And， in keeping the style light and conversational， the book is free of any footnotes， a mercy that I earnestly appreciated while reading。In this breezy casual manner， The Spike tracks the tortuous path from retina to visual cortex， through object recognition and localization processes， to prefrontal cortex， through basal ganglia and motor cortex， and into the spinal cord。 But just as the mundane occurrence of an office worker reaching for a cookie belies the immensity of activity unfolding in the brain， the story of a neural impulse originating in the retina and ending up at a neuromuscular junction is even itself just the surface of a much more significant story: In its essence， The Spike is an overview of modern neuroscience grappling with the profound question of how exactly the structure and activity of the brain enables it to process information。 If the brain is a biological computer， how does the computer work？ How do action potentials， the currency of neurons， carry information about the world outside the skull， transmute it， and utilize it？ By presenting leading theories from computational neuroscience in the narrative framework of the spike’s journey， Professor Humphries tackles this daunting task brilliantly。The Spike is a popular science book in the sense that it boils down a vast field of scientific inquiry into an entertaining tale that can be digested by a general audience。 A reader would be well-served to have some educational background in biology and neuroscience， so that talk of membranes， ions， voltage， and the like don’t bog down the narrative as the bigger picture is sketched out， but the story is accessible to a broad audience of science enthusiasts。 Even for its popular science credentials， the book still has plenty to offer to a seasoned neuroscience student or researcher， especially anyone who is eager to poke their head up from their work’s narrow specialization and check in with the status of contemporary neuroscience at large。 My longstanding appreciation for the popular science genre has never faltered over the years， but it has evolved。 More and more， as I move along the scholastic path， I’m learning what makes for a good popular science book。 The content of popular science books should balance engaging stories with the unflattering uncertainties that are the true engine of theoretical progress， and underpin bold claims with enough technical detail to make the logic sound。 But first and foremost， the key objective of a popular science book is to not be boring。 The Spike accomplishes all of these objectives expertly， and is one of my favorite books of popular neuroscience that I’ve ever read。 。。。more

Reference

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The British Library https://bll01.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,The Spike: An Epic Journey Through the Brain in 2.1 Seconds&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=Not_BL_Suppress&vid=44BL_INST:BLL01&lang=en&offset=0