Reality Check
shrilly sounds a clarion call for curiosity, humility, and open mindedness
regarding the fathomless profundities of the human mind.  As envisioned by its
author, David L. Weiner, an inveterate writer of psychology books, this
attitudinal approach to studying murky mind-brain phenomena may illumine the
path to greater intellectual enlightenment.  The luminous textual material
radiates light in many directions.  But an intellectually sturdy connecting
thread is the considerable sympathy Weiner evinces for a biologic-physical
basis for emotions, feelings, anxieties, phobias, compulsions, and even
spirituality.  This bias underpins the textual edifice strongly.

 Importantly,
the toilsome chiseling of intellectual artisan Weiner is intended to sculpt a
"reality check", in the sense of showing reality as it is being hewed
continually by unfolding scientific investigation.  Those covetous of embracing
a reality check wedded firmly to scientific fact, however discomfiting, should
be enlivened by Weiner’s relentlessly assiduous efforts to painstakingly crack
open formidably tough shells shielding kernels of scientific knowledge and
insight concerning the human mind.

 In an
antechamber to the thirteen chapters comprising the main structural chamber of
the book, Dr. Robert Hare (a Professor Emeritus of Psychology, at the University of British Columbia) prefaces the text with an expression of admiration and
appreciation for Weiner’s down to earth approach to deciphering some of the
myriad mysteries of the human mind.  And indeed, Weiner’s writing style exudes
refreshing unpretentiousness, tinged even with a measure of self-deprecation. 
The textual corpus is measured very well, stylistically, to fit closely lay
readers.

Critics,
metaphorically, may castigate Weiner as a somewhat ill mannered bull,
stampeding through an academic shop replete with delicate treasures, in a rough
manner showing suboptimal regard for academic genteelness.  Any perceived lack
of academic formality accompanying Weiner’s toils, however, should not be
mistaken for a lack of seriousness of purpose.  Plainly, Weiner is unequivocally
bent on sifting carefully through the challenging sands of mind-brain science,
in diligent search of grains of insight and understanding.  Towards that end,
academic baggage pretentiously cluttering the way to enhanced understanding of
the human mind is cast aside unapologetically.

Research minded
readers may be gladdened by "Notes", linked to the respective
chapters, which adjoin the text.  These Notes identify a plethora of research
materials germane to textual issues.  Further adjoining the text is a
"Bibliography", which, in alphabetic fashion, additionally identifies
research materials pertinent to mind-brain matters.

Textually, in
Chapter One, the reader is introduced to Weiner’s overarching conceptual belief
that the human mind is biologic-physical in nature.  The concept of a
"virtual reality" is unveiled in this chapter, as well.  As fleshed
out by Weiner, every person has a unique virtual reality embodying the values,
beliefs, and attitudes garnered over the course of a lifetime.  Weiner traverses
considerable neuroscientific ground. A comparison of human brain neurons to
transistors is interestingly undertaken in Chapter Two, whereas the
interconnectedness of the amygdala, emotional control, and the successful
executing of physical tasks (for example, the proper hitting of a ball,
particularly in a stressful situation) engages the rapt attention of Chapter
Three.

As Weiner
clearly acknowledges, many of the scientific puzzles of the human mind remain
unsolved by investigators.  In Chapter Five, for instance, Weiner expresses
sympathy for the view that human emotional feelings are physical, and are part
of the brain’s biology.  But, concomitantly, Weiner explains that the neural
circuitry for emotional feelings is understood only partially.  Weiner likewise
believes that anxieties, compulsions, and phobias are basically physical
problems that are controlled by the brain’s neural circuitry.  This belief is
advanced in Chapter Seven.  Certainly, Weiner’s thoughtful book may serve
potentially as a galvanizing sounding board for constructive debate focusing on
contentious, unsettled issues impinging on the human mind.

Other subjects
falling within the far extending ken, of Weiner, reach to:  the interminable
expansiveness and inscrutability of the universe (probed in Chapter Eight);
engrossing comment (in Chapter Nine) on enigmas enshrouding the passage of
time; and animating discourse, in Chapter Ten, appertaining to DNA molecules,
coding, and the Human Genome Project.  Weiner’s far flung net, of attention, in
Chapter Eleven, entraps the subject of genetics.  The prime focus of Weiner’s
discerning gaze, in Chapter Twelve, is on the purported primal urge of humans
to increase their status, or what Weiner describes as the "status
imperative".  In concluding Chapter Thirteen, center stage attention is
given to the globally great multitude of religions and spiritual beliefs. 
Consistent with the biologic-physical conceptual framework encasing the book, Weiner
indicates sympathy for a biologic basis for spirituality.

Notwithstanding
the vigorous efforts of Weiner to demystify it, the human mind remains
enveloped by a thick aura of mystery.  Many of the musings of Weiner, however
interesting, have yet to be forged in the fire of sustained academic study.  Moreover,
from a scientific perspective, the ruminations of Weiner are rather rudimentary
in nature.

Nevertheless the
views of Weiner are certainly attention gathering and thought provoking, and
may help spark further robust discussion relating to the complexities of the
mind.  Psychologists, psychiatrists, neuroscientists, biologists, geneticists,
theologians, philosophers, and ethicists are among those who should be
enthralled by Weiner’s important contribution to the burgeoning literature of
the human mind.

©
2007 Leo Uzych

Leo Uzych (based in Wallingford, PA) earned a law degree, from Temple University; and a master of public health degree, from
Columbia University.  His area of special professional interest is
healthcare.

Categories: Psychology