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Unthinkable
- An Extraordinary Journey Through the World's Strangest Brains
- Narrated by: Helen Thomson
- Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
- Categories: Biographies & Memoirs, Professionals & Academics
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Summary
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What listeners say about Unthinkable
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Jessica Davis
- 18-11-19
Beginning to reveal the mind
Started out a little slow, but quickly picked up. It was a fascinating study of the human mind. Although she points out the philosophical notion that we can never fully understand the mind because we are using it to understand. However, I know from listening to this book I feel a greater appreciation for what that mushy mass in our heads provides us and the people that have challenges with it.
1 person found this helpful
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- Ursula McPherson-Vitkus
- 08-09-18
Fascinating for anyone with a brain!
This book changed the way that I conceptualize myself and my interactions with others around me. I recommend to all--not just those in the sciences!
1 person found this helpful
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- David White
- 18-07-18
Inspired by Sacks, yet totally it's own thing!
Helen Thomson humbly credits those who came before her in the Neuroscience world, while making a name for herself! This book was performed well and its story is great! Finally, this book really makes you appreciate the lived aspects of the illnesses/conditions described!
1 person found this helpful
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- laurel
- 26-09-20
Loved the narrator. Fascinating brains.
Great audio book finished in less than a week. I really enjoyed learning about what makes brains unique in ways that process information. I told several friends about checking this book out. I typically read fantasy. It was a nice switch up.
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- Lmon
- 09-03-20
ended it with 3 hours left. bored
found myself with a wandering mind most of the time. the people who she's doing case studies on really aren't that shocking of cases. maybe it's her narration. probably the author shouldn't have done her own book.
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- david
- 30-08-19
interesting narrative about the brain
many conditions are fascinating but presentation is not as good as biographies of people with one. a bit biography a bit neuroscience lecture. voice is fast and a bit easier to listen if you slow her to 90-95% speed. the accent and speed are a problem early in the book but by the end perhaps I got used to the Queen's English. truly interesting conditions though.
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- Paul
- 18-07-19
Instant fan!
This one book ought to catapult Helen into the highest echelon of science writing. It’s fantastic. A Dawkins, Sagan, Sacks or Zimmer. She is delightfully British so if you get the audio version, be prepared for the wonderful pronunciations and colloquialisms.
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- Ruthi
- 01-07-19
Very interesting
I really enjoyed this book a lot! I’ve been having medical issues the past 3 years now and as such, I’ve really appreciated books like these a lot more than I ever did before. Nonfiction can be difficult for me to finish- via text nearly impossible but still hard via audiobook. This one was easy to engage with & the writer does a great job narrating her work without ever getting dry or monotone. Typically medical science nonfiction is best when read by the author but sometimes it’s too dry of a job- definitely not the case here & I really appreciated her cadence. 5/5, tho not in depth on the cases if you’ve a passing interest in brain disorders that are unusual, you’re probably aware these disorders exist & will find simply the interviews themselves fascinating.
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- ericka
- 11-04-19
Enjoyed
I enjoyed this one. I mostly listen on my commutes home from work. Some of the cases I had read or learned about in other books or classes previously, but some were new to me and I still enjoy hearing about those ones I already know. Its read by the author and what I like most is her ability to explain conditions that sound inexplicable at first, in way that makes you think ,' oh, now I totally see how that could happen to someone.' If you love psychology and learning about cognition this book is for you.
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- Leanne Beers
- 01-03-19
Completely Fascinating!
My daughter got this book for me, after reading only the description, thinking it might be something I would like. Turns out, yep...loved it. Every chapter seemed to be more interesting than the previous. I was riveted. If I would have read this book 25 years ago I would have totally studied psychology.