An absorbing and poignant exploration of the human brain.
An acclaimed writer reflects on neurology, intuition, and Zen in this collection of essays and articles.
Shainberg, the author of multiple novels and nonfiction works, became obsessed with understanding his own neurology (“e.g., the brain that was producing the book”) while writing Memories of Amnesia in the 1970s. In researching that 1988 novel about the implications of brain damage, he had seven months of hospital access to neurosurgeons, patients, and staff. His half-century desire to understand the contradictions of the human mind is displayed in this compilation of essays and articles, many of which were first printed in the ’70s in publications like The New York Times Magazine and Harper’s Magazine. The titular essay centers on the ubiquitous sports phenomenon of hot streaks, where an athlete is on a transcendent run of making three-point shots in basketball, hammering home runs in baseball, or hitting bullseyes in archery. Regardless of the euphoria experienced by fans and teammates who witness these moments of athletic grandeur, “Hot Hands” are not a statistical reality, no matter how “brutal, sacrilegious, and seemingly inarguable” the phenomenon may be. In making this point, Shainberg references peer-reviewed studies. The author similarly uses the New York City Marathon in his essay “Going Nowhere Fast” to examine intuition-defying examples of how the “psychodrama” of sports conflicts with scientific reality. Another major theme of the book is the powerful neurological revelations offered through Zen practice. Essays, such as “The Violence of Just Sitting,” dissect Shainberg’s experiences with the devotion of “sesshin” and long periods of meditative sitting. In part a commemoration of the author’s distinguished career as an essayist, the volume pays particular attention to the interconnectedness of Zen, neurology, and creativity, ruminating on the mental processes behind Shainberg’s own work as well as others (an entire essay, for instance, centers on Zelda Fitzgerald). The collection excels at distilling the complexities of modern neuroscience into real-world examples in sports, literature, and spirituality. This emphasis on practicality is balanced with the literary sophistication and the gripping storytelling of a skilled novelist.
An absorbing and poignant exploration of the human brain.Pub Date: July 6, 2023
ISBN: 9798396049260
Page Count: 221
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
A frank and funny but uneven essay collection about neurodiversity.
An experimental, illustrated essay collection that questions neurotypical definitions of what is normal.
From a young age, writer and comedian Myers has been different. In addition to coping with obsessive compulsive disorder and panic attacks, she struggled to read basic social cues. During a round of seven minutes in heaven—a game in which two players spend seven minutes in a closet and are expected to kiss—Myers misread the romantic advances of her best friend and longtime crush, Marley. In Paris, she accidentally invited a sex worker to join her friends for “board games and beer,” thinking he was simply a random stranger who happened to be hitting on her. In community college, a stranger’s request for a pen spiraled her into a panic attack but resulted in a tentative friendship. When the author moved to Australia, she began taking notes on her colleagues in an effort to know them better. As the author says to her co-worker, Tabitha, “there are unspoken social contracts within a workplace that—by some miracle—everyone else already understands, and I don’t….When things Go Without Saying, they Never Get Said, and sometimes people need you to Say Those Things So They Understand What The Hell Is Going On.” At its best, Myers’ prose is vulnerable and humorous, capturing characterization in small but consequential life moments, and her illustrations beautifully complement the text. Unfortunately, the author’s tendency toward unnecessary capitalization and experimental forms is often unsuccessful, breaking the book’s otherwise steady rhythm.
A frank and funny but uneven essay collection about neurodiversity.Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9780063381308
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2025
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