This seventeen-chapter book began with an introduction that let me know I was going to enjoy myself while I struggled to understand the content. Mr. Sapolsky narrated a Hitler torture fantasy that gave a serial killer-esque feel with how obviously thought out each part of it has been detailed. From here I knew that while I would be doing some heavy thinking to try to understand a subject that I know very little about, I would at least be entertained by an author who clearly has a sense of humor. Following the Hitler fantasy, his remark about pessimism made me smirk, as I can relate, in that I also always imagine the worst-case scenario.
Chapter 1 (The Behavior) introduces behavior, and what could have happened seconds, minutes, hours, days, years, eons ago, that could have caused the nervous system to make that behavior happen. The next few chapters detail these periods of time down. Then there is a section about aggression that goes into the different types, of which I was very intrigued about the instrumental kind. Instrumental aggression, being an aggressive behavior that occurs for a nonpersonal reason, has the subject target another subject that is weaker than they are because they are feeling either frustrated, stressed, or because they are in pain. The subject needs to displace these feelings by doing something harmful or violent. I say subject, not human, because the author gives an example of this behavior being seen in a species of monkey, where a male that has lost his position in the ranks will rape a female afterwards. Mr. Sapolsky then mentioned that there would be more discussion about displacement anger in chapter 4, which got me excited with anticipation of learning more about that. Finally, one last thing I would like to mention because it really got me thinking philosophically, was how he mentioned a quote from Elie Wiesel, who said that hate was not the opposite of love, indifference was. And, apparently, hate and love are very much alike, notably in this text, when it comes to biology.
Chapter 2 (One Second Before) is where my struggles began. The author warns that the chapter is long and technical, and it was for me, and he suggests use of the appendix. It took me several hours over 3 days to get through this chapter because I was genuinely trying to understand it. Before he went into the different parts of the brain and their functions and how they play a role in behavior, the author asks why did the behavior occur? You can get endless answers to this question depending on who you ask. The answer will depend on the occupation, education, upbringing, religion, and many other factors, that belong to the identity of the person who is being asked the question. He says that no matter the answer, they are all connected. From here, he goes on to describe the layers of the brain, then structures in the brain, where I took notes, but honestly, I think it is a bit much to put here. In my opinion, the best way to get the most out of this chapter is not to read about it from me, but to read it for yourself. For me, the most interesting passages were about arousal and categorical thinking. Our hearts do the same thing when we find ourselves rampaging and when we are having an orgasm. Trying to remember a bunch of items is easier when you try to bunch similar items together rather than trying to remember them in the order they were recited or originally listed. You might find other parts of this chapter more interesting.
To be continued next week.
Nonfiction and Nonsense 