最近、色んな事を整理しながら本棚の中身を見たら読みきれなかった本が気付いた。
実はほとんどのは漫画とアートに関わった本と雑誌だけどたまには情報的なものか面白い科学的な本を読んで楽しむ。
読みきれなかった本の中にはマインドハックスという本がある。
今から２、３年前ぐらい本屋を立ち寄る時にこの本がタイトルだけで注目を引かれた。
マインドハックスというのはマインドのハッキングすると言う意味なのでふと考えたら脳の改善とか何かの超能力を得る事についた本と考えてた。それにオーライリーという出版社は普通にいろんなプログラムについてマニュアルとか一般の知恵に以外情報と手段を身に付ける本を出す会社なのでそのことをマインドという新たな分野につないだのは面白いと思った。
買ってからちらと見たら予想以外、本の中身は違う。本当は
認知神経科学についての本だった。つまり脳の機能を調べてそれをもとにして日常生活に当然のことを深く分かってハッキングする。ところで、ハッキングは普通に言うとコンピュアターの不正侵入の意味があるけど現代用語（英語）ではハッキングはある物事か行動を元の機能以外、他の方法・手段で使う。
とにかく、当時、ちょっと読んでたらこの本がちょっと怖いと思った。基本的に言って我らのすべては脳に込めてそれで何かの機械みたいな者だからこの本に載った機能に限って人間の生命とか命は脳そのものだけだ。監獄のように考え、想いなどはこの目によって投獄された。その雰囲気でなんとなく読み切れなかった。
しかし、本棚に見たと再び読んでみたかった。ゆっくり読んだけどやっと終わった。結局、とても面白くて考えさせた本だった。脳はそれだけだと言うより脳はそれだけじゃなくてすばらしいと思わせた。
脳そのものは見事にこの世の資料などを吸い込みながら現実を見分ける非常に美しい機械だ。日常生活の当然の事はどんなにちっぽけと思われても事実的にいってその小さくてくらないことはたいしたことだよ。そして、そのことを受け取ってついた可能性を解放さられた者はその脳だけだ。
ってことはすばらしいなあ、人間は
っということでこの本はおすすめ！是非読んで下さい。
So, lately I've been reorganizing/going through a lot of my possessions and I came across some books that I hadn't read or just never got around to finishing. To tell you the truth, most of the books I own are comic or art related, but I have been known to enjoy a book or two about science or general knowledge.
Anyway, so amongst my books I noticed the books
Mind Hacks, which was published by O'Reilly pubslishing a few years ago. I remember coming across this book at my local bookstore and just the title alone was able to grab my attention.
Thinking about this, as silly as this sounds, the title evoked images of improving my brain, and have super human brain abilities. ...not like ESP or anything, but being able to impress people with my awesome cognitive skills or something along those lines.
Anyway, with this though firmly set in my consciousness I set about purchasing it and glancing at it upon getting home. it ended up not really being what I expected it to be but it was interesting none the less.
The book itself is mainly a primer on
cognitive neuroscience, and explains the various functions of our brain in our day to day life. Upon reading a little bit further into it, I remember actually having a sense of fear...because I had the impression that we are limited by our brains. We can only see reality only as our brain presents it to us...and to speak truthfully our brain is not the most efficient piece of machinery imaginable.
Of course, there is a kernal of truth in this, reality isn't exactly the reality that we perceive it to be, and by reading this book one can learn that the brain uses a lot of tricks to makes sense of things and isn't always giving us the whole picture for a multitude of reasons.
However, I decided to give this book another gander, and although I took my time reading it, I finally finished it last week.
I'm familiar with O'Reilly publishing as a company that often releases a series of hacking books in relation to various software and PC technology. Hacking is presented in the sense that we can make use of various technologies for purposes outside of their intended or basic functions by using "hacks." Along those lines, this series has been purported to the realm of the mind. Furthermore, through cognitive neuroscience, which is in essence, understanding the mind and it's functions, we can set the stage to "hack" our mind.
Reading this book has brought a sense of wonderment to me. The book is divided into a series of experiments and explanations for the various activities and functions that we experience in our daily lives. Often taken for granted, one can discover that these things, no matter how small, are not very small at all, but incredible feats of engineering worthy of amazement.
Sometimes, in life, we tend to lose perspective. We can get lost amongst the grandiose manner of the universe itself; but sometimes you have to stop and smell the flowers and realize that even the ability to walk and talk in something to revere and admire.
...Humans are amazing creatures aren't they? That's the sentiment that I can take away from reading this book.
With that said, I'm going to wrap this up and say that I recommend this book as an interesting read.
So, yea...buy it.
