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(More customer reviews)After a lifetime studying epilepsy and other neurological disorders, Michael Trimble has taken his considerable experience and used it as a means to explore how we become poets, prophets, or madmen (or all of the above). Those interested in the work of Oliver Sacks, Antonio Damasio, and V.S. Ramachandran will welcome this highly interesting volume. Trimble is Professor of Behavioral Neurology at the Institute of Neurology, University of London. His work has concentrated on the study of epilepsy but he has also edited an excellent and comprehensive volume entitled Biological Psychiatry (1996). His understanding of broad issues in neuropsychiatry is second to none. But what distinguishes The Soul in the Brain from Trimble's previous work is its focus on topics important to all of us. As he writes "The main theme of this book is the cerebral representations of emotional experiences that relate to music and religion and associated activities such as poetry" (53).
Trimble does a superb job reviewing loads of material and highlighting those pieces most relevant to the issues at hand. Here is a neurologist with a longstanding and passionate commitment to understanding all things human. Trimble's expressed admiration of William James, Freud, and John Hughlings Jackson confirm his desire to bring the field variously entitled neuropsychiatry or behavioral neurology to bear upon vital aspects of human experience.
The Soul in the Brain reviews such varied topics as poetry and religiosity, music and madness. Trimble highlights the cerebral mechanisms that contribute to such aptitudes. He demonstrates a genuine appreciation for these topics and for the disciplines that have traditionally sought to understand them. Trimble is not militant in his scientism. Concerning religion, for instance, he writes "Profane man is a descendant of H. religiosus, and he cannot wipe out his own history" (19). Not by simplifying or reducing the phenomena at hand will we come to an understanding but through a systematic revelation of underlying mechanisms we can gain greater clarity.
Of particular interest is the consideration of the right cerebral hemisphere and its relation to language, a topic Trimble feels has been neglected in the past. While Broca's and Wernicke's areas (the main regions associated with language) are typically located in the left hemisphere, other critical aspects of language including our abilities to work with metaphor, prosody, and tone probably derive from the right hemisphere's special capabilities.
Trimble's writing is clear and competent with some literary flourishes occasioned, no doubt, by his regard for poetry. In my opinion, the volume could have used a bit more editing, it felt `uneven' in numerous places. Several times while reading The Soul in the Brain I wished Trimble would have abbreviated some material and elaborated elsewhere. Most importantly, I wish he had discussed the relationship between temporal lobe epilepsy and religion at even greater length. Trimble devoted a chapter to this topic but given his expertise and the number of times I came across his name while reading about temporal lobe epilepsy elsewhere I had hoped for an even lengthier analysis. Those specifically interested in temporal lobe epilepsy would do well to read this volume but ought to read Eve LaPlante's excellent book Seized (1993) also.
The scope of the book is vast and in spite of this ambitious scope Trimble manages to synthesize most of the material he relates. Without any grand unifying theories to help us adequately combine biological and social insights books, like this one, that attempt to bring together diverse fields necessarily feel a bit scattered. This is less an insufficiency than a demonstration of bold vision and the desire to bring together fields that have previously allowed themselves to pass like ships in the night.
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In this provocative study, Michael R. Trimble, M.D., tackles the interrelationship between brain function, language, art -- especially music and poetry -- and religion. By examining the breakdown of language in several neuropsychiatric disorders, neuroscientists have identified brain circuits that are involved with metaphor, poetry, music, and religious experiences. Drawing on this body of evidence, Trimble argues that religious experiences and beliefs are explicable biologically and relate to brain function, especially of the nondominant hemisphere.Inspired by the writings and reflections of his patients -- many of whom have epilepsy, psychosis, or affective disorders -- Trimble asks how the human species, so enamored of its own logic and critical facilities, has held from the dawn of civilization strong religious beliefs and a reverence for the arts. He explores topics such as the phenomena of hypergraphia and hyper-religiosity, how religious experiences and poetic expression are neurologically linked with our capacity to respond to music, and how neuropsychiatric disorders influence behaviors related to artistic expression and religiosity by disturbing brain function.With the sensitivity of a dedicated doctor and the curiosity of an accomplished scholar, Trimble offers an insightful analysis of how the study of people with paradigmatical neuropsychiatric conditions can be the cornerstone to unraveling some of the mysteries of the cerebral representations of our highest cultural experiences.
