Brain Science: What Does It Mean for You?

by Mark Bartholomew
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6 books
Our understanding of the biology of human thought is growing exponentially. At the same time, there is so much more that we still don’t know. These six books are my recent favorites when it comes to pinpointing what’s real and what’s not when it comes to the latest brain research. They also all give deep thought to the personal and public implications of our enhanced ability to appreciate and manipulate the brain.
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The New Mind Readers

What Neuroimaging Can and Cannot Reveal about Our Thoughts
Russell A. Poldrack, 2020
This book is extremely effective in explaining just how neuroscience works for the lay reader. Poldrack, a professor of psychology at Stanford, translates EEG and fMRI research in way that is understandble for anyone. He also skillfully examines how this new research may be used—for good and bad—in treatment of mental disease, law, and marketing.

The Battle for Your Brain

Defending the Right to Think Freely in the Age of Neurotechnology
Nita A. Farahany, 2023
Neurotechnologies are coming, but what will they do and where will they be implemented? This book, written by a law professor, does a great job of chronicling what is likely when it comes to applied neuroscience as well as interrogating how to balance the benefits from brain tech against its costs to our privacy.

The Brain Defense

Murder in Manhattan and the Dawn of Neuroscience in America's Courtrooms
Kevin Davis, 2017
By exploring the anatomy of a single strange homicide, this book explores the promises and pitfalls of brain science in the criminal justice system. The book explores weighty philosophical issues like free will but goes down smooth with journalist Davis’ punchy prose.

The Neuroscience of You

How Every Brain Is Different and How to Understand Yours
Chantel Prat, 2022
Prat uses her neuroscience chops to show us the differences in everyone’s individual brain chemistry. Her book is a useful counterpart to most of the research in neuroscience, which offers generalizable insights as to how our minds work.

Your Face Belongs to Us

A Secretive Startup's Quest to End Privacy as We Know It
Kashmir Hill, 2023
Hill’s book chronicles how an overlooked outsider created a powerful platform for identifying anyone and everyone’s faces online, heedless to the effects such a platform will have on personal privacy and security. Though technically not about brain science, the book examines the adjacent field of biometrics and, as with the other books on this list, scrutinizes the social costs of new technologies.

The Idea of the Brain

The Past and Future of Neuroscience
Matthew Cobb, 2020
To understand a new phenomenon like the recent advances in studying and understanding the brain, it always helps to have a historical referent. This book shows that new neural discoveries should be put in perspective and that the times we live in always impact our beliefs, regardless of what the actual research says. It turns out that shifting metaphors—from animals to batteries to computers—have controlled society’s different understandings of gray matter.