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Mirroring People: The New Science Of How We Connect With Others (2008)

by Marco Iacoboni(Favorite Author)

3.77 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0374210179 (ISBN13: 9780374210175)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

review 1: This is an interesting, accessible introduction to some very interesting recent research in neuroscience. The book proceeds in a clear, conversational tone and does a decent job of explaining its claims and conclusions, although at times it's far too casual for my taste. For those looking for more thorough scientific explanation, the notes section contains references to all of the scientific studies cited.The first several chapters introduce mirror neurons and explain the research and conclusions about these interesting cells. As the book goes on, it seems that mirror neurons are related to an increasingly diverse set of cognitive properties. The later chapters sometimes seem to paste mirror neurons onto accepted concepts of mind and social activity. Sometimes this is conv... moreincing, sometimes it's not. The book offers concise descriptions of the simulation theory of mind, imitative learning, and several ideas about the fundaments of social and ethical behavior, but the relevance of mirror neurons to these concepts sometimes seems drastically overstated. I recently read Temple Grandin's _Animals in Trnaslation_ and that text also cited many of the same landmark scientific studies, but her conclusions were much more compelling than Iacoboni's refrain of "and look, mirror neurons are involved in this process too!" Science moves quickly, so this book may be a bit outdated by now. Some of its conclusions may now have been accepted as canon and others may have been refuted. I would still recommend it and a quick, charming way of introducing non-scientists to the basics of neuroscience.
review 2: Theory of mirror neurons may be intersting, but this book is full of dry scientific facts, which in a great part were not so convincing. I got a feeling that mirror neurons are presented as a kind of new scientific dogma supported by a group of scientist who are eagerly trying to find and prove it in everything and everywhere. I prefere to see a kind of scientific dobut and reference to wider social neuroscience, which cannot be found in this book. less

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