Burnett is also father to a 4-year-old son and a one-year-old daughter, so this is basically applied science. Dean Burnett, a neuroscientist (and author of the Idiot Brain, and Guardian columnist who moonlights as a stand-up comic), says that the early days of brain development are fascinating because all of the connections needed throughout life are forming and coming together. “Why are you flopping on the ground?” “Why are you biting me for no particular reason?” “Why are you peeing yourself while maintaining eye contact?” The biggest issue is that you don’t know what they’re thinking, and they can’t tell you yet. I encourage anyone with a brain to read Idiot Brain because the brain is both extremely impressive, but also a bit stupid.As the parent of a toddler, your big adult mind is always trying to make sense of what’s going through their tiny kid one. Thankfully, Dean Burnett is a neuroscientist, who moonlights as a comedian and writes for The Guardian, so he can dissect the brain and its functions in accurate yet accessible ways, with quips and analogies to ease the examination. “The brain is a terrifyingly complex tangle of connections and links, like a ball of Christmas-tree lights the size of the known universe.”

For example, why do we see a scary monster in the doorway when it’s just a bathrobe hanging on the door? And why is there always room for dessert at the end of a huge meal? And why did I just come into this room anyway? Instead, Idiot Brain presents a comedic discussion of the brain that usually centers around the stranger things the brain does, especially the processes that make us do peculiar things. What makes Idiot Brain so wonderful is that it’s not a simple, linear, boring discussion of the brain with explanations starting from a description of a neuron and developing into more complex behaviors (as a textbook often does). His popular science book Idiot Brain: What Your Head is Really Up To is well-researched, well-written, and highly recommended for anyone interested in learning about how the brain works, fails to work, and even works against you. chose to describe all that the brain does to make you amazing, he did it in a uniquely humane and entertaining way.

Your brain is the most remarkable thing about you because it makes you you.

Idiot Brain by Dean Burnett