Noted UK neuroscientist Susan Greenfield takes us through a day in the life of the brain in this intriguing exploration into the many different ways that degrees of consciousness arise, expand and fall during any 24 hour period.
3. Thread 1:
“It is better to know some of the questions
than all of the answers.”
(pg. ix)
4. Thread 2:
“Memories, no less than molecules, are
physical objects, part of the physical
universe, but objects
we are capable of
recognizing under
names other than
those physics
gives them.”
(pg. 3)
5. Thread 3:
At each stage of your day, various factors drive
an endless succession of brain states, which
are themselves based on very large numbers
of brain cells
working together
for just a fraction
of a second. “Ass-
emblies” are rela-
tively unknown
and under-
investigated.(pg. 4)
6. Thread 4:
The brain is not a rigid and inflexible building;
instead we should think of it as a heaving ocean
that is some-
times rela-
tively calm,
but some-
times choppy,
churning,
even stormy.
(pg. 45)
7. Thread 5:
Just to be crystal clear: what I’m suggesting is
that transient configurations of large-scale
neuronal assemblies
throughout the
brain correlate
with varying
degrees of con-
sciousness at
any one moment.
(pg. 50)
8. Thread 6:
“All truly great thoughts are conceived
by walking.” ~ Friedrich Nietzche
(pg. 53)
9. Thread 7:
A natural environment spares us relentless
reactivity to the outside world and shapes
our consciousness
more subtly in a
more voluntary,
proactive manner.
Creativity scores
after a 4-day hike
are 50% higher.
(pg. 54`)
10. Thread 8:
As our brain develops , so the connections
will be shaped by our experiences of the
outside world:
this phenomenon
whereby experience
almost literally
leaves its mark on
our brain is
known as
plasticity.
(pg. 61)
12. Thread 10:
A normally active, fully matured prefrontal
cortex will link the past and the future with
the present and provide a bigger cognitive
picture.
(pgs. 138)