Connectome: How the Brain's Wiring Makes Us Who We
Are by Sebastian Seung




expert and thought provoking introduction to a new science

---

This
book works at a number of levels.

It offers a clear historical
introduction to theories of brain anatomy, neural function and the many concepts
that modern neuroscience is built upon. The coarse phrenological division of the
brain, the attribution of function through mapping, the mechanisms of perception
and memory are all introduced and appraised in terms of contemporary thinking.
Seung's account is wide ranging, touching on topics as diverse as imaging
equipment, feuds between researchers and weighing up the scientific method as
applied in neuroscience, yet remains clear and focussed in providing opposing
views and introducing examples from pathologies to reinforce this
introduction.

Seung cherry-picks the ups and downs of neural research for
examples that are relevant and contextual. The recounting of one that he touches
on often is helpful. He discusses the phenomenon observed by Itzhak Fried who
detected a single neuron in a subject's brain that spiked when viewing photos of
Jennifer Anniston. Jennifer proved to be just one of many such stimuli which
caused single neurone spiking in the medial temporal lobe. Seung builds an
example around this where a `blue eye neurone' and a `blond hair neurone' use
  excitatory synapses to trigger the so-called `Jen' neurone. These neurones
  trigger other neurones but, because of the familiarity of Jen in the perception
  of the subject, she comes to the subject's mind. These hierarchies of synapse
  reinforcement or degeneration can then be used to show how people perceive,
  remember or forget, and Seung follows the public lives of Jen and her
  associates to show how this connection mechanism develops into memory.

The
book has a central theme of introducing the emergent science of connectomics, of
which the author is a pioneer. It is explored by tying together how connectomes
change through reweighting, reconnection, rewiring and regeneration and applying
this approach to current and future neuroscience. Of course, this book remains
an introduction, albeit an accessible and cogent one. The reader will become
better equipped to follow developments in this important area of science, the
relevance and vastness of which are relayed strongly. I am still bemused at the
open brain treatments in the early twentieth century and applaud later
generations for working hard to use alternatives to this and animal vivisection.
I feel Seung, while maintaining research priorities, is on the same
wavelength.

Seung completes this lively account with some very broad
conjecture on the future impacts of connectomics. This is well informed and
thought provoking and rounds off a fine book