Jorge Cham and Dwayne Godwin
$28.00 / 358 pages
Pantheon
Out Of Your Mind is a curious book. When the title was first brought to my attention thanks to a message from Pantheon its publisher it struck me as somewhat of an odd topic – the human brain – to handle in a graphic novel format. Of course this was my brain making an assumption based on my recollections of the publisher’s catalog. While Out Of Your Mind is not a graphic novel the method its creators Jorge Cham and Dwayne Godwin take combines several short comics and numerous cartoon illustrations with science and a little history. This “left brain right brain” approach yields a book that is both highly informative and fun to read.
Of course it helps that the pair are already well versed in their fields. Godwin is a neuroscientist, professor, and academic leader. Cham has a PhD in robotics, is author and coauthor of a few science books, cocreator and cohost of the Daniel and Jorge Explain The Universe podcast, the cartoonist behind the online comic strip Piled Higher and Deeper, aka PHD Comics, among other credits. Together they’ve tackled the complex and complicated topic of the human brain by breaking it down into eleven very manageable chapters dedicated to specific topics beginning with Where Is The Mind and concluding with What Makes Us Human. They’re listed at the end of this review in case you’re interested.
You come across examples of hate all the time, don’t you, dear queer reader? Possibly even in the last hour or less if you’ve checked just about any social media. Then there are “news” channels — you know the ones — spewing lies and cultivating anger. Of all the topics covered in Out Of Your Mind the chapter on why people hate is the one which immediately grabbed my attention. Do you remember when you first learned about hate? For me it was when I turned ten and I overheard a conversation involving my father and discovering he was racist. He was a car salesman (and an alcoholic) at the time and earlier that day he’d sold a Cadillac to a Black couple. His rant was disgusting and at the same time his words created fear and doubt in me. What would his reactions be if he discovered his oldest child had inklings of being gay? In the years since that incident I’d often wondered if hate was an inherited trait. Thankfully it isn’t genetic but rather as Cham and Godwin explain hate is a complex set of emotions, behaviors, and thoughts involving different regions of the brain which working together form the brain’s reward system. This is the same system responsible for feelings of love. The simple scientific fact that both hate and love are keyed to our brains’ reward system seems concerning given what we see in today’s world. Cham and Godwin offer possible solutions to the rise of hate so all is not lost but it will take concerted effort on a societal level.
Certainly there are other topics aside from why we hate that also caught my attention. The chapters on addiction and whether we humans have free will or not piqued my interest. In roughly thirty pages Cham and Godwin demystify addiction (whether serious or relatively benign) and explain it to be a hijacking of the brain’s reward system. Additionally they discuss the roles that other factors such as genetics contribute to the condition. “Demystify” is a deliberate choice on my part. As mentioned above my father was an alcoholic and he was by far not the only relative who has had struggles. Addiction is a condition that most of my family members have considered as a failure of obedience to God and the only remedy was to become “born again in Christ” and any relapse was viewed in the same light. Unlike my family and countless other similarly minded people, there is nary a hint of judgement coming from Cham and Godwin and their “just the scientific facts” style is to be appreciated.
Unsurprisingly my interest in the free will chapter is also related to religion, specifically due to a near decade long close up exposure to evangelical Christianity during my formative years. During that period the minister regularly tucked choice commentary into his sermons about humanity having free will and how terrible it was that people used theirs to disobey God’s will. Don’t worry, I’ll spare you any more glimpses into my past. Instead allow me tease you with hints that read like an “elevator pitch” for a high concept sci fi apocalyptic movie or graphic novel: a Spanish scientist facing off against a bull in the ring; DNA; the CIA and MK Ultra; Cordyceps as in The Last Of Us game and TV show; and Benjamin Franklin.
If that “elevator pitch” intrigued you or you’ve pondered serious questions about the human mind, memory, consciousness, and other experiences that make us human then Out Of Your Mind is a book for you.
Here are several links to give you insight into the book that aren’t filtered through my past experiences. This is to a short book intro and you can also listen to an audiobook preview on Youtube.
Cham and Godwin have a much more in depth discussion about their book with Lonnie Stonitsch who is the Executive Director of Family Action Network.
Out Of Your Mind’s chapter content:
Where Is The Mind?
Why Do We Love?
Why Do We Hate?
Will an AI Take My Job?
What Are the Limits of Memory?
What Is Addiction?
What Is Consciousness?
What Are the Limits of Memory?
What Is Consciousness?
What Makes Us Happy?
Do We Have Free Will?
What Happens When We Die?
What Makes Us Human?
Out Of Your Mind is available now. Want to purchase a print or digital copy? Please consider Bookshop which supports indy bookstores. Bookshop will also help you locate a store near you. Of course check for copies at Barnes & Noble and Books A Million or other retailers in your area. Here are the ISBN numbers in case they might be helpful: 0593317351 (ISBN 10) and 978-0593317358 (ISBN 13).
If all else fails or you prefer, Amazon has print and digital copies as well as an audio book version which includes comic strip downloads. This is a Gay League Amazon affiliate link from which Gay League will earn a small commission while this link is not.