Featured books

Featured Websites

.: Reader Views Kids

Provides book reviews, by kids, for kids

.: Inside Scoop Live

Provides live author interviews for podcast

.: Authors Access

Provides interviews with experts in the publishing industry

.: Midwest Book Review

Provides post-publication reviews

.: Reader Views

Provides book reviews and author publicity

.: LR Communication Design

Provides professional website design and development

.: Blogging Authors

Provides a place where writers and readers meet

.: Review The Book

Provides 5 books reviews on 10 different sites

.: Best Sellers World

Provides book reviews and author features

.: Feathered Quill Book Reviews

Provides book reviews and author features

reviews

Beyond Biology: Metaphysical Brain Science

Charles S. Yanofsky
Outskirts Press (2010)
ISBN 9781432754013
Reviewed by Andrey Bilko for RebeccasReads.com (12/10)

Science can explain many things. Biology, chemistry, physics, biochemistry, and other fields give us mechanisms and explanations of how our bodies and everything else around us works. There is a reason and scientific evidence for almost everything. Almost everything, not completely 100%... There are theories, postulates, laws, which give us an idea of how our world operates. However, science cannot elucidate the whole picture. Each branch of science has its limitations, which are continuously growing smaller with constant progress. Nevertheless, science cannot answer all of our questions completely just yet. There is always room for something that goes beyond science. And this is what this book is about - metaphysical science, "Beyond Biology."

For example, everyone knows about the Big Bang Theory, which in logical in scientific terms, supported by evidence, and is widely accepted. Nonetheless, the fact that the vast universe got its start from nothing or a tiny point and continuously grew to its current size is difficult to comprehend. It is tough to process something starting from nothing. Since in our world, everything starts from something, nothing can be created out of thin air. Loopholes like this one allow people to believe in a higher being or force which is beyond our understanding, looking over us and shaping our world. At the same time, we realize that science is constantly moving towards obtaining new knowledge, hopefully, being able to explain everything and every ambiguity eventually.

This text focuses on the brain, the most complex and important bodily organ. Despite much research, we still have no idea as to what exactly is going on there. Neuroscience gives us just a trailer instead of the full feature of the brain. Science and medicine did come far, allowing us to understand some neurological processes and disorders that come with them. But it is still so difficult to explain behaviors which are beyond natural science, beyond biology, beyond physiology, telling us that there is much more in the picture. Something metaphysical perhaps…

The author writes clearly and thoroughly for a wide audience, not just readers with strong scientific background. Starting with the neuron, getting into vision and sensory function, continuing with cognitive processes of memory, talking about “iconoclasms” or long-term planning that does not seem to be necessarily favorable in biological terms, and finishing with “beyond biology” or our capacity beyond biological limits. It is a captivating text, shedding some facts and speculations onto fascinating and thought-provoking subject.

.: Blog
.: FTC Disclosure