The Reader

I haven’t been able to write a reading diary for a while. This is because something personally has been very difficult for me since the end of February. For over a month, the psychological pain was so great that I could not afford to read books or engage in other activities. The problem has not yet been resolved, but after I completed the urgent response and accepted the situation I faced, I could briefly talk about my situation to others and read books. However, I still can’t read serious books, so the book I opened was “Dollars and Sense: How We Misthink Money and How to Spend Smarter.” It was a more interesting and enjoyable book than I expected. Is there anything more influential and powerful in modern society than money? Everyone needs and wants money, but those who are so greedy for money that they extort other people’s money and ruin their minds should be punished severely. I dream and pray for a future where this crisis I am facing will end justly, and I will be free from this ...

Oliver Sacks is a very famous author in the field of neuroscience, but this is the first time I have properly read a book written by him. It’s his autobiography, and I quite enjoyed reading it. After reading it, I felt like he was an excellent storyteller and writer before he was a neurologist. He is a free-spirited and curious person who enjoys motorcycle travel, writing letters, and writing diaries. He interestingly depicts his secret sexual life and romance, his experience with drugs, his feelings toward those around him, and his pure intellectual curiosity about the human mind in his autobiography. It seems that he has an innate talent for closely observing and recording the patients in his care as a neurology clinician, developing his thoughts, and weaving them into humanistic stories that go beyond the field of medicine. After reading this book, I wanted to read his other essays that I had bought at home but had not read. In the current Korean atmosphere, experts might diagnose h...

The author of ‘Guns, Germs, and Steel’ wrote this book earlier, so it contained similar content but also had new and interesting content for me. The author explains how humans relate to primates like orangutans, gorillas, and chimpanzees. He also explains human life cycle events like death and menopause using evolutionary theory. The author did not believe in finding intelligent extraterrestrials, unlike other scientists, and had a good reason. In that respect, the emergence of human beings and current civilization is so close to impossible that it seems that the existence of God can only explain them. When Europeans used advanced technology to explore new lands, they often massacred native people. This makes it seem likely that something terrible might happen if more intelligent aliens than humans found Earth. However, the author seems to think that there will be no intelligent extraterrestrial life like ours. The Aborigines and Native Americans meeting Europeans felt similar to how w...

 After reading the author’s other book, I thought I should finish reading this book, which I had neglected after reading only part of it for over 10 years. I re-read it from the beginning and thought it was an autobiography and a great science book. Historically important neuroscience findings and the author’s research on memory were thrilling. It was nice to experience indirectly how great research develops throughout a lifetime through the author. Like DNA, the human brain is interesting in that the materials and principles by which it operates are quite similar to those of other invertebrates. In this respect, higher animals may possess some of the consciousness, emotions, and cognitive functions. The author said that giving up a stable career as a psychiatrist to pursue basic research was the most difficult career decision. I have never thought deeply about the life of doing basic research. Reading this book made me think about my life as a basic researcher. Considering who I a...

I purchased this book a long time ago, but I was hesitant to read it due to its thickness. However, I finally finished reading it today. The scope covered by this book is as wide as the author’s diverse academic background, and the level of knowledge is deep. If I were to describe the book in one word, it would be ‘elegant.’ Beginning with stories about modernist artists from around 1900 in Vienna, Austria, notably Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka and the early famous medical scientists exploring neuroscience, including Freud, this book explores the human unconscious and psychology. It also describes in detail neuroscience and how it relates to emotions and reactions that beholders feel when they see art. In particular, it offers many intriguing insights into visual perception and the theory of mind. Although the content is not easy to read due to its abstract nature, it contains many important research results and contents in cognitive science. After reading this book, I...

In this book published in 2021, the author tried to find answers to the questions raised: who gets the power, why do people corrupt after gaining power, and what should we do to prevent such corruption? Personally, I read this book to understand more why authorities that I’ve met or heard acted like that. As it is not an easy subject, I couldn’t get one obvious answer, but the author coherently tried to give answers from various aspects encompassing evolutionary, psychological, and historical perspectives. Interesting anecdotes, interviews, and academic pieces of evidence altogether help us get a glimpse of the ‘true or core answer’, but still makes us feel ‘couldn’t get it done’. Nonetheless, I consider that this book can be the possible best answer to this complex topic. It is worth reading with only relevant knowledge in various fields and interesting stories presented in this book. It is often said that power corrupts, but according to this book, people who are attracted to power a...

Several years ago, when I worked at the national forensic psychiatric hospital, I read this book for the first time. As I stopped reading it after reading two-thirds of it, I read again from the beginning. Now, I became to like this book more than my first reading. As a renowned neurocriminologist, the author deals with the biosocial causes of violent criminals and how to prevent such crimes based on scientific findings. A variety of case examples and proven scientific knowledge are well-organized and woven to convey the major topic. So, the author’s provocative idea regarding the future national crime prevention program in the last chapter doesn’t sound like science fiction or daydreaming. The author’s future imaginary prevention programs named “the LOMBROSO (Legal Offensive on Murder: Brain Research Operation for the Screening of Offenders)” (which seems to be named after Cesare Lombroso, the founder of biological criminology) and “the NCSP (the National Child Screening Program)” loo...