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Projections: A Story of Human Emotions
A groundbreaking tour of the human mind that illuminates the biological nature of our inner worlds and emotions, through gripping, moving—and, at times, harrowing—clinical stories
“[A] scintillating and moving analysis of the human brain and emotions.”— Nature
“Beautifully connects the inner feelings within all human beings to deep insights from modern psychiatry and neuroscience.”—Robert Lefkowitz, Nobel Laureate
Karl Deisseroth has spent his life pursuing truths about the human mind, both as a renowned clinical psychiatrist and as a researcher creating and developing the revolutionary field of optogenetics, which uses light to help decipher the brain’s workings. In Projections, he combines his knowledge of the brain’s inner circuitry with a deep empathy for his patients to examine what mental illness reveals about the human mind and the origin of human feelings—how the broken can illuminate the unbroken.
Through cutting-edge research and gripping case studies from Deisseroth’s own patients, Projections tells a larger story about the material origins of human emotion, bridging the gap between the ancient circuits of our brain and the poignant moments of suffering in our daily lives. The stories of Deisseroth’s patients are rich with humanity and shine an unprecedented light on the self—and the ways in which it can break down. A young woman with an eating disorder reveals how the mind can rebel against the brain’s most primitive drives of hunger and thirst; an older man, smothered into silence by depression and dementia, shows how humans evolved to feel not only joy but also its absence; and a lonely Uighur woman far from her homeland teaches both the importance—and challenges—of deep social bonds.
Illuminating, literary, and essential, Projections is a revelatory, immensely powerful work. It transforms our understanding not only of the brain but of ourselves as social beings—giving vivid illustrations through science and resonant human stories of our yearning for connection and meaning.
“[A] scintillating and moving analysis of the human brain and emotions.”— Nature
“Beautifully connects the inner feelings within all human beings to deep insights from modern psychiatry and neuroscience.”—Robert Lefkowitz, Nobel Laureate
Karl Deisseroth has spent his life pursuing truths about the human mind, both as a renowned clinical psychiatrist and as a researcher creating and developing the revolutionary field of optogenetics, which uses light to help decipher the brain’s workings. In Projections, he combines his knowledge of the brain’s inner circuitry with a deep empathy for his patients to examine what mental illness reveals about the human mind and the origin of human feelings—how the broken can illuminate the unbroken.
Through cutting-edge research and gripping case studies from Deisseroth’s own patients, Projections tells a larger story about the material origins of human emotion, bridging the gap between the ancient circuits of our brain and the poignant moments of suffering in our daily lives. The stories of Deisseroth’s patients are rich with humanity and shine an unprecedented light on the self—and the ways in which it can break down. A young woman with an eating disorder reveals how the mind can rebel against the brain’s most primitive drives of hunger and thirst; an older man, smothered into silence by depression and dementia, shows how humans evolved to feel not only joy but also its absence; and a lonely Uighur woman far from her homeland teaches both the importance—and challenges—of deep social bonds.
Illuminating, literary, and essential, Projections is a revelatory, immensely powerful work. It transforms our understanding not only of the brain but of ourselves as social beings—giving vivid illustrations through science and resonant human stories of our yearning for connection and meaning.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published June 15, 2021
About the author
Karl Deisseroth
3 books90 followersKarl Deisseroth is a professor of bioengineering and psychiatry at Stanford University. The winner of the Kyoto Prize and the Heineken Prize, Deisseroth has five children and lives near Stanford University, where he teaches and directs Stanford’s undergraduate degree in bioengineering and treats patients with mood disorders and autism.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 154 reviews
August 21, 2021
As much as I wanted to like it, Projections was a disappointing read. An aspiring physician, I have a deep admiration for Deisseroth’s work, especially his Nobel-worthy pioneering of optogenetics. His genius was never in question. The problem is with his prose.
The book reads like a medical school personal statement whose author is trying too hard to impress the reader. In fact, I was concurrently reading George Soros’ notoriously difficult The Alchemy of Finance (a philosophical view of the markets) and found it to be an easier read than Projections.
If you’re interested in learning more about Deisseroth’s work, I instead recommend listening to Andrew Huberman’s podcast episode with Deisseroth. You’ll get a better sense of how Deisseroth thinks… and save a couple of hours.
The book reads like a medical school personal statement whose author is trying too hard to impress the reader. In fact, I was concurrently reading George Soros’ notoriously difficult The Alchemy of Finance (a philosophical view of the markets) and found it to be an easier read than Projections.
If you’re interested in learning more about Deisseroth’s work, I instead recommend listening to Andrew Huberman’s podcast episode with Deisseroth. You’ll get a better sense of how Deisseroth thinks… and save a couple of hours.
May 4, 2021
Dr. Karl Deisseroth is a Renaissance man: He is a psychiatrist with a special interest in autism and treatment-resistant depression; he has a Ph.D. in neuroscience; and he is a professor of bioengineering at Stanford, where he spends much of his time running a lab. His interactions with patients who are challenged by a range of psychiatric or neurological issues raise provocative questions and inform his work in the lab. He’s also a lover of literature, which he regards as important for “understanding patients” and which can “at times provid[e] a window into the brain [that is] more informative than any microscopic objective.” Deisseroth is a proponent of cross-fertilization between disciplines—the humanities, engineering, and various scientific fields. Ideas and influences from unexpected directions can be transformative, he says, and if science is too biased towards solving disease-related questions, innovation is curtailed.
Projections
reflects its polymathic author’s philosophy. It’s a rich, fascinating, and exciting amalgam of stories of patients with particular psychiatric diseases and symptoms, including mania, paranoia, multi-infarct dementia, autism, borderline personality disorder, eating disorders, and depressive illness. The narratives are offered with the view that the broken can provide insight into the unbroken—abnormal function helps us understand what is normal. Deisseroth’s book also contains elements of personal memoir and scientific expository writing about genetics, evolution, and the role that a technology called optogenetics can play in exposing the complex neural circuitry and components involved in certain emotional states and diseases.
Unlike other medical specialists who can use a range of diagnostics—including blood work and imaging—to home in on and identify disease, psychiatrists are reliant on patient history and clinical presentation. Deisseroth writes: “The challenge of trying to perceive and experience unconventional realities from the patient’s perspective is the heart of psychiatry, working through the distortions of both the observer and the observed.” To practise well, he intimates, psychiatrists have to have a measure of self-awareness. They must be careful not to over-identify with patients and be mindful not to ascribe their own emotions or experiences to those they are treating. Sometimes, however, psychiatric diagnoses can be reached when the clinician notes the feelings a patient evokes in him. For example, in dealing with borderline patients, who are “maestros” at eliciting emotion in others—bringing forth powerful positive or negative feelings that approach patients’ own intense states—Deisseroth has found it useful to be attentive to the “rising tingle” up his back “in that sensation of defensive rage that we feel in our skin when personal boundaries are violated.”
Physicians are trained to see brains as biological objects. With psychiatric illnesses, however, the organ itself is not obviously damaged, and there are few explanations for why patients are suffering and what their diseases mean in a biological sense. A new technology called optogenetics (much of it developed in Deisseroth’s own Stanford bioengineering lab) is changing that. This technology allows scientists to see specific nerve cells firing as well as activity patterns in brain “circuits” created by the “projections”—the axons (extensions or threads)—of neurons across the brain.
Optogenetics involves taking genes responsible for making light-responsive proteins from such microorganisms as ancient algae and delivering them to specific neurons in laboratory animals, usually mice. Amazingly, this genetic material can be carried to its target by a virus. Once it reaches the intended nerve cell, the microbial DNA provides instructions so that the mammalian neuron can now produce a light-sensitive protein called a rhodopsin. Later, scientists can administer laser light to the transformed neuron by means of thin flexible fibers of glass (fiber optics). The genetically-altered lab animal’s neuron fires in response to that light—it’s excited or inhibited. Throughout the process, the animal brain is left intact; researchers are able to study the components that give rise to neurological function without taking the system apart. Deisseroth’s team has also developed and employed another technology called hydrogel-tissue chemistry, which helps to turn the normally dense and opaque brain into a state which permits light to pass through freely. This allows high-resolution visualization of the physical components of certain brain functions and emotional states.
Deisseroth explains early in his book that optogenetics technology has allowed scientists to learn that emotional states typically involve several brain areas. (Knowledge gained through this method may ultimately lead to treatments for afflictive states.) Anxiety, for example, begins in a region of the brain called the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST), an extension of the amygdala (a part of the brain involved with experiencing emotion). Threads from the BNST radiate out and activate several other brain areas. One projection travels to the parabrachial nucleus in the pons, which is part of the brainstem. When activated, this area increases the breathing rate of an anxious individual. The risk aversion (fearful avoidance) we see in an anxious person is controlled by a different thread, one travelling from the BNST to the lateral hypothalamus. Finally, the negative feeling or “valence” associated with anxiety is handled by a third projection, which extends to the ventral tegmental area, a part of the mammalian brain’s reward-and-motivation network.
Projections is organized around patient stories. Deisseroth walks the reader through the symptomatology of each condition, what is known about its genetics, and the ways in which optogenetics has shed light on what is going on. The author often considers the social context in which the patient’s illness has developed, whether it be the ruptured early family life of a borderline patient or the state-sponsored persecution of a patient from a Uyghur community in China. I appreciated his reminder that “nothing in biology makes sense, except in the light of evolution.” If something does not matter for survival, it disappears. It’s very possible, then, that what we now consider psychiatric illness once served a purpose. For example, the elevated state of being that we see in mania may have allowed some people to lead others in past times of existential threat; the euphoria of the manic individual may have uplifted and inspired his fellows. The decreased need for sleep, the abundant energy, and the intense commitment to projects may have served ancient societies well in times of migration or rebuilding. On the other hand, humans may have had periods during which the conservation of energy was critical for survival. The roots of depression may lie there.
Deisseroth acknowledges that there are ethical concerns about how new technologies like optogenetics are used. Neuroscience can target specific cells and connections to make animals more or less aggressive, defensive, energetic, sexual, social, hungry, thirsty, or sleepy. To what extent might these findings ultimately be applied to transform dysfunctional or suffering humans? Which changes are socially and morally acceptable and which are not? Deisseroth opines that the scientific community has a duty to explain its work to the general public, who must become engaged in the discussions about how new neuroscientific technologies are applied.
I am grateful to Random House for approving my Net Galley request for an early review copy of Karl Deisseroth’s book. It is one of the most stimulating works I’ve read in some time. I think other motivated readers interested in the workings of the brain will find it very rewarding, too.
Unlike other medical specialists who can use a range of diagnostics—including blood work and imaging—to home in on and identify disease, psychiatrists are reliant on patient history and clinical presentation. Deisseroth writes: “The challenge of trying to perceive and experience unconventional realities from the patient’s perspective is the heart of psychiatry, working through the distortions of both the observer and the observed.” To practise well, he intimates, psychiatrists have to have a measure of self-awareness. They must be careful not to over-identify with patients and be mindful not to ascribe their own emotions or experiences to those they are treating. Sometimes, however, psychiatric diagnoses can be reached when the clinician notes the feelings a patient evokes in him. For example, in dealing with borderline patients, who are “maestros” at eliciting emotion in others—bringing forth powerful positive or negative feelings that approach patients’ own intense states—Deisseroth has found it useful to be attentive to the “rising tingle” up his back “in that sensation of defensive rage that we feel in our skin when personal boundaries are violated.”
Physicians are trained to see brains as biological objects. With psychiatric illnesses, however, the organ itself is not obviously damaged, and there are few explanations for why patients are suffering and what their diseases mean in a biological sense. A new technology called optogenetics (much of it developed in Deisseroth’s own Stanford bioengineering lab) is changing that. This technology allows scientists to see specific nerve cells firing as well as activity patterns in brain “circuits” created by the “projections”—the axons (extensions or threads)—of neurons across the brain.
Optogenetics involves taking genes responsible for making light-responsive proteins from such microorganisms as ancient algae and delivering them to specific neurons in laboratory animals, usually mice. Amazingly, this genetic material can be carried to its target by a virus. Once it reaches the intended nerve cell, the microbial DNA provides instructions so that the mammalian neuron can now produce a light-sensitive protein called a rhodopsin. Later, scientists can administer laser light to the transformed neuron by means of thin flexible fibers of glass (fiber optics). The genetically-altered lab animal’s neuron fires in response to that light—it’s excited or inhibited. Throughout the process, the animal brain is left intact; researchers are able to study the components that give rise to neurological function without taking the system apart. Deisseroth’s team has also developed and employed another technology called hydrogel-tissue chemistry, which helps to turn the normally dense and opaque brain into a state which permits light to pass through freely. This allows high-resolution visualization of the physical components of certain brain functions and emotional states.
Deisseroth explains early in his book that optogenetics technology has allowed scientists to learn that emotional states typically involve several brain areas. (Knowledge gained through this method may ultimately lead to treatments for afflictive states.) Anxiety, for example, begins in a region of the brain called the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST), an extension of the amygdala (a part of the brain involved with experiencing emotion). Threads from the BNST radiate out and activate several other brain areas. One projection travels to the parabrachial nucleus in the pons, which is part of the brainstem. When activated, this area increases the breathing rate of an anxious individual. The risk aversion (fearful avoidance) we see in an anxious person is controlled by a different thread, one travelling from the BNST to the lateral hypothalamus. Finally, the negative feeling or “valence” associated with anxiety is handled by a third projection, which extends to the ventral tegmental area, a part of the mammalian brain’s reward-and-motivation network.
Projections is organized around patient stories. Deisseroth walks the reader through the symptomatology of each condition, what is known about its genetics, and the ways in which optogenetics has shed light on what is going on. The author often considers the social context in which the patient’s illness has developed, whether it be the ruptured early family life of a borderline patient or the state-sponsored persecution of a patient from a Uyghur community in China. I appreciated his reminder that “nothing in biology makes sense, except in the light of evolution.” If something does not matter for survival, it disappears. It’s very possible, then, that what we now consider psychiatric illness once served a purpose. For example, the elevated state of being that we see in mania may have allowed some people to lead others in past times of existential threat; the euphoria of the manic individual may have uplifted and inspired his fellows. The decreased need for sleep, the abundant energy, and the intense commitment to projects may have served ancient societies well in times of migration or rebuilding. On the other hand, humans may have had periods during which the conservation of energy was critical for survival. The roots of depression may lie there.
Deisseroth acknowledges that there are ethical concerns about how new technologies like optogenetics are used. Neuroscience can target specific cells and connections to make animals more or less aggressive, defensive, energetic, sexual, social, hungry, thirsty, or sleepy. To what extent might these findings ultimately be applied to transform dysfunctional or suffering humans? Which changes are socially and morally acceptable and which are not? Deisseroth opines that the scientific community has a duty to explain its work to the general public, who must become engaged in the discussions about how new neuroscientific technologies are applied.
I am grateful to Random House for approving my Net Galley request for an early review copy of Karl Deisseroth’s book. It is one of the most stimulating works I’ve read in some time. I think other motivated readers interested in the workings of the brain will find it very rewarding, too.
Read
July 7, 2021The book is something between an autobiography and stories of patients. I have ordered the book right after it came out, and I had high expectations, but honestly, I am a bit disappointed.
I am a neuroscientist and my expectation was to have a book filled with cutting-edge science, instead, the book was more like talking to a friend after work.
That being said, the book could be a great read for those who like to know a little bit about the life of a well-known researcher. In the neuroscience community, we all expect Karl to win a Nobel prize for his great work.
I am a neuroscientist and my expectation was to have a book filled with cutting-edge science, instead, the book was more like talking to a friend after work.
That being said, the book could be a great read for those who like to know a little bit about the life of a well-known researcher. In the neuroscience community, we all expect Karl to win a Nobel prize for his great work.
August 23, 2021
This is one of the worst books I have ever read. Karl Deisseroth is a psychiatrist and a scientist actively working in the field of neuroscience. He introduced a method of using light to influence activity of certain types of neurons. Because of this I expected the book to be full of cutting-edge science, things I could not got from any other place, things that come fresh from the lab using a highly advanced method of looking at and controlling brain activity. Boy, was I wrong...
The books is almost entirely a collection of anecdotes. The problem is, there isn't really anything else beside that filler. I didn't care one bit about any of the patients. The author didn't make me care. Slapping a name on a case doesn't make you care. Reading how Deisseroth is torn by his emotions when relating to the patients doesn't make you care. The author doesn't know how to write a compelling story. Which is not unexpected — he's a medical doctor, not a story writer. But then again, what's the point of including them in the first place?...
I don't know what the author was trying to accomplish with these anecdotes and the description of his emotional struggles with the fate of the patients. But the strongest impression I got was that the author needs therapy as he's really struggling with his emotions, with himself, and with his work. The book reads like a confession to a therapist rather than an educational work.
There isn't much valuable information. Some of it is boring (a certain nerve controls movements of an eye), some of it is already common knowledge (memories are coded by connections between neurons). And there isn't anything more to it! No jaw-dropping curiosities, no unexpected discoveries. Instead of content we get a forced flowery language. The author really tried to act as a writer. But the sporadic poetic language is not a substitute for interesting content.
I listened to the audio book read by the author himself. And this is yet another disappointment. Deisseroth doesn't have the skill, he's not a narrator. Instead, he is a sloth. I had to listen at 120% speed just to keep focus not to fall asleep. He makes weird pauses mid-sentence. The entire narration is weird and not natural. I had the impression that the author is constantly very, very sad. This was irritating... I had to force myself to finish the book.
The books is almost entirely a collection of anecdotes. The problem is, there isn't really anything else beside that filler. I didn't care one bit about any of the patients. The author didn't make me care. Slapping a name on a case doesn't make you care. Reading how Deisseroth is torn by his emotions when relating to the patients doesn't make you care. The author doesn't know how to write a compelling story. Which is not unexpected — he's a medical doctor, not a story writer. But then again, what's the point of including them in the first place?...
I don't know what the author was trying to accomplish with these anecdotes and the description of his emotional struggles with the fate of the patients. But the strongest impression I got was that the author needs therapy as he's really struggling with his emotions, with himself, and with his work. The book reads like a confession to a therapist rather than an educational work.
There isn't much valuable information. Some of it is boring (a certain nerve controls movements of an eye), some of it is already common knowledge (memories are coded by connections between neurons). And there isn't anything more to it! No jaw-dropping curiosities, no unexpected discoveries. Instead of content we get a forced flowery language. The author really tried to act as a writer. But the sporadic poetic language is not a substitute for interesting content.
I listened to the audio book read by the author himself. And this is yet another disappointment. Deisseroth doesn't have the skill, he's not a narrator. Instead, he is a sloth. I had to listen at 120% speed just to keep focus not to fall asleep. He makes weird pauses mid-sentence. The entire narration is weird and not natural. I had the impression that the author is constantly very, very sad. This was irritating... I had to force myself to finish the book.
October 30, 2021
I read this book for a neuroscience book club I co-run. My partner and I are both neuroscientists, and he was excitedly telling me all the things he loved about it before I began reading it. But as I began the book, then progressed further and further, it just wasn’t sparking joy. I’m still not sure why we felt so differently about the book.
First of all, Deisseroth’s work on optogenetics is super cool, I think every neuroscientist on earth probably agrees about that. I didn’t know before reading this book that he was also a practicing psychiatrist and I'm still really confused how he had time to do that as well as invent one of the most groundbreaking tools in neuroscience.
He's in a really unique position to relate what he sees in the clinic to specific brain areas and pathways from his work in the lab. Those were the portions of the book I enjoyed the most.
Unfortunately this was a really small part of the book. Most of the book is Deisseroth poetically describing some of his more affecting clinical experiences with patients, and philosophically speculating about how this applies to the human condition. I really don't care for flowery prose and I found it very tiresome in this case as well. I always get the feeling the author is trying to emotionally manipulate me, or create illusory depth about situations that are actually quite straightforward. Also, most of the clinical cases weren't super unique, just described with great poetic emotion. There were some interesting portions, but I was so impatient with the stuff in between I found it hard to appreciate the cool ideas when they came, which is partially on me as an impatient reader.
In short, not here for it. Maybe lovers of poetry and philosophy would appreciate it more than I did.
First of all, Deisseroth’s work on optogenetics is super cool, I think every neuroscientist on earth probably agrees about that. I didn’t know before reading this book that he was also a practicing psychiatrist and I'm still really confused how he had time to do that as well as invent one of the most groundbreaking tools in neuroscience.
He's in a really unique position to relate what he sees in the clinic to specific brain areas and pathways from his work in the lab. Those were the portions of the book I enjoyed the most.
Unfortunately this was a really small part of the book. Most of the book is Deisseroth poetically describing some of his more affecting clinical experiences with patients, and philosophically speculating about how this applies to the human condition. I really don't care for flowery prose and I found it very tiresome in this case as well. I always get the feeling the author is trying to emotionally manipulate me, or create illusory depth about situations that are actually quite straightforward. Also, most of the clinical cases weren't super unique, just described with great poetic emotion. There were some interesting portions, but I was so impatient with the stuff in between I found it hard to appreciate the cool ideas when they came, which is partially on me as an impatient reader.
In short, not here for it. Maybe lovers of poetry and philosophy would appreciate it more than I did.
May 22, 2022
"Projections" (2021) is a memoir by an American psychiatrist who develops research in the field of neuronal engineering. Karl Deisseroth was one of the first scientists, in the early 2000s, to demonstrate the possibility of activating/deactivating neurons using light, a process that has since become known as optogenetics. This means it is possible to readjust the functioning of groups of neurons that are functioning incorrectly, managing to provoke behavioural changes at the level of procreation, memories, addiction or feeding, being seen as one of the most revolutionary techniques in the neurosciences. Throughout the book, Deisseroth speaks of the despair and frustration felt in his clinical activity as the main driving force for his involvement with bioengineering that would lead him to the development of optogenetics. In 2021, Deisseroth was awarded the Lasker Award, the so-called American Nobel of medicine for his contribution to optogenetics.
4.5
Resenha completa em português no blog:
https://virtual-illusion.blogspot.com...
4.5
Resenha completa em português no blog:
https://virtual-illusion.blogspot.com...
August 24, 2021
So I know the author because of his revolutionary tool called optogenetics. He is a capable scientist who in my mind, was a narrow-minded super-focused method-neuroscientist. This book showed me that he's actually very good at writing for the public and in my opinion, this book is far better than most of the neuroscience-based books I've read. It covers interesting topics and the transitions are very smooth so there's no hiccup between topics. It's full of detailed descriptions of how different psychiatric patients feel and think. While it's scientifically rigorous, it also has a very romantic approach to many of the events and topics.
Altogether, this will be one of the books I will for sure recommend to anyone who's interested in psychiatry, neuroscience, the human brain, and the human mind.
Altogether, this will be one of the books I will for sure recommend to anyone who's interested in psychiatry, neuroscience, the human brain, and the human mind.
July 11, 2021
Muddled tome that the book jacket promises to “transform our understanding not only of the brain but of ourselves as social beings”. The writing style was trying way too hard to capture both emotion and science and not really succeeding very well in either direction and the mixing of testimonials came across as disjointed.
May 9, 2023
I wouldn't be able to explain optogenetics after reading this, but it hardly matters. I was under the spell of Dr.-Prof. Deisseroth's lyrical sentences, surprising metaphors, and unsettling stories of the human mind. Clinical psychiatry as beauty.
June 18, 2022
The author proves through this book that it certainly is possible to write about complex scientific topics in extremely clearly terms and with literary beauty - even when you're an academic deep into your work and writing about your own research to a lay audience; any amount of praise for this book falls short (in my opinion). I thought it'd be yet another pop science book but little did I know how engaging it'd be from a literary perspective. The author does mention that he was quite an avid fan of literature in his youth - and its influence does show up incredibly well throughout his writing!
Essentially, the author (a psychiatrist and professor) writes about his clinical cases (each chapter pertaining to a certain mental illness) and manages to view each of those from multiple perspectives - from the patient's likely perception, a philosophical one (especially stressing on how the "self" is just such a fluid concept), and a technological perspective (wherein he talks about his optogenetics research and makes clear how it works in very simple terms). It all somehow ends up being tied in the form of a beautiful yet haunting story - especially because those are all true clinical cases. The writing style is also subtly tweaked based on the condition of the patient!
By the time the book ends the reader is sure to carry with them not only quite some basic knowledge about general psychiatry, mental illnesses, the brain's anatomy, and optogenetics - but also a lot of thoughts and questions about the "self" and its boundaries, the role of literature in our lives - and most importantly the reader is also bound to wonder just how grey "normal" really is.
I can't recommend this book enough. It's just 200-odd pages but there's so much in there, really.
(Maybe I'm biased in this review because the book feels like a book version of Dream Theater's Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence which deals with the same theme - and also happens to be one of my favourite songs).
Essentially, the author (a psychiatrist and professor) writes about his clinical cases (each chapter pertaining to a certain mental illness) and manages to view each of those from multiple perspectives - from the patient's likely perception, a philosophical one (especially stressing on how the "self" is just such a fluid concept), and a technological perspective (wherein he talks about his optogenetics research and makes clear how it works in very simple terms). It all somehow ends up being tied in the form of a beautiful yet haunting story - especially because those are all true clinical cases. The writing style is also subtly tweaked based on the condition of the patient!
By the time the book ends the reader is sure to carry with them not only quite some basic knowledge about general psychiatry, mental illnesses, the brain's anatomy, and optogenetics - but also a lot of thoughts and questions about the "self" and its boundaries, the role of literature in our lives - and most importantly the reader is also bound to wonder just how grey "normal" really is.
I can't recommend this book enough. It's just 200-odd pages but there's so much in there, really.
(Maybe I'm biased in this review because the book feels like a book version of Dream Theater's Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence which deals with the same theme - and also happens to be one of my favourite songs).
January 5, 2022
This is a beautifully written book by a leading neuroscientists on his exploration into human emotions. To describe such complicated brain states, he uses many tools like optogenetics, psychiatry, and even literature when everything else fails.
I loved the book, and i found it enriching in its perspective on personality and eating disorders. The book is also accessible for any level of scientific training.
I loved the book, and i found it enriching in its perspective on personality and eating disorders. The book is also accessible for any level of scientific training.
March 16, 2024
Mapping the inner workings of mental illnesses in a way we can understand the ones who are suffering.
Physiology, interwoven with science, philosophy and psychology.
“We are not defined by obstacles and passageways that were laid down by others, by nature, and by the body’s inner drives. These details are not us. Other people, and storms, and needs come and go, and as they do, they alter the hills and valleys of the landscape - but the self chooses the route taken. Priorities pick the path. Our selves are not the contour of that landscape available to us, in this complex topography we travel - rather, they are the chosen path. And memories serve to mark the path along the way, so we can find ourselves, embodied as where we have passed.
In this way I could see self as the fusion of memories and principles, collapsed into the unitary element of path.”
“Here at least we shall be free: Suffering is tolerable if it’s the price of freedom.”
Physiology, interwoven with science, philosophy and psychology.
“We are not defined by obstacles and passageways that were laid down by others, by nature, and by the body’s inner drives. These details are not us. Other people, and storms, and needs come and go, and as they do, they alter the hills and valleys of the landscape - but the self chooses the route taken. Priorities pick the path. Our selves are not the contour of that landscape available to us, in this complex topography we travel - rather, they are the chosen path. And memories serve to mark the path along the way, so we can find ourselves, embodied as where we have passed.
In this way I could see self as the fusion of memories and principles, collapsed into the unitary element of path.”
“Here at least we shall be free: Suffering is tolerable if it’s the price of freedom.”
September 12, 2022
Fantastic book
It goes through various psychiatric illnesses in a way that acknowledges the diagnostic ambiguity between the varying and overlapping presentations of disorders that have distinct mechanisms and roots in the brain. Other books I have read take a textbook approach to disorders that acts like things are clear cut and set in stone for the stake of explanatory simplicity, this book engages with the comorbidities that sprout from coping with baseline conditions and how they must be unpicked so that a sufficient treatment can be given. It also engages with the tender line between health and pathology in individuals and across populations.
It discusses the lived realities of people struggling with these conditions with deep empathy, as well as the strengths and limitations of scientific explorations into disruptions of the human mind without getting too abstract. The book is quite compact and beautifully written. Though I tried dipping in and out of it and found that frustrating, it is the kind of book you ought to read in a handful of sittings to keep its emotional flow. The shifting between various metaphors reflects the noisy nature of reality and how we must shift between mental models to cope with the world, I particularly enjoyed the simile of threads in a fabric (as vulnerable aspects of a whole that if broken can lead to a disintegration or frailing of that whole) thoughout the book. It made me want to read poetry, do neuroscience research and work harder to understand my fellow man
It goes through various psychiatric illnesses in a way that acknowledges the diagnostic ambiguity between the varying and overlapping presentations of disorders that have distinct mechanisms and roots in the brain. Other books I have read take a textbook approach to disorders that acts like things are clear cut and set in stone for the stake of explanatory simplicity, this book engages with the comorbidities that sprout from coping with baseline conditions and how they must be unpicked so that a sufficient treatment can be given. It also engages with the tender line between health and pathology in individuals and across populations.
It discusses the lived realities of people struggling with these conditions with deep empathy, as well as the strengths and limitations of scientific explorations into disruptions of the human mind without getting too abstract. The book is quite compact and beautifully written. Though I tried dipping in and out of it and found that frustrating, it is the kind of book you ought to read in a handful of sittings to keep its emotional flow. The shifting between various metaphors reflects the noisy nature of reality and how we must shift between mental models to cope with the world, I particularly enjoyed the simile of threads in a fabric (as vulnerable aspects of a whole that if broken can lead to a disintegration or frailing of that whole) thoughout the book. It made me want to read poetry, do neuroscience research and work harder to understand my fellow man
July 26, 2021
There’s little doubt that Karl Deisseroth is a highly intelligent and eloquent neuroscientist and psychiatrist, but I found this book so overwrought, so flowery, and so desperately lacking in real human emotion. The words of emotion were there, but nothing landed. It just left me with an overwhelmingly depressed feeling throughout. It made me not want to read more of it after every completed chapter, but I persisted because it’s clearly advanced stuff in a field I’m passionate about.
The client narratives for the most part did not sound authentic…. They were far too “perfect” and it made me think that Deisseroth uses a lot of poetic license which I hope he doesn’t also impose on his actual patients. An overwhelming meh from me. For what that’s worth.
The client narratives for the most part did not sound authentic…. They were far too “perfect” and it made me think that Deisseroth uses a lot of poetic license which I hope he doesn’t also impose on his actual patients. An overwhelming meh from me. For what that’s worth.
July 19, 2021
A neuroscientist that can write is definitely my kryptonite.
January 1, 2024
411Awareness of anything, including our internal feelings...does not flip on and off....Awareness, even of pain, gathers itself, seeming to emerge with movement in time, along a trajectory arcing from one moment to another. Each feeling is intimately entwined...with a growing and cresting and abating of brain activity. p66
We all live, and move, in the crafts we have built for ourselves. p44
Not everything needs to make sense if it brings warmth. p111
If I admit that much of this book gave me the chills, does that follow that whole chunks of it made little sense to me? It may be that comprehension is limited to those already neurologically enhanced beings who accept the kinds of research and emphasis KD favors. The man himself is obviously brilliant and his warmth encourages readers to relax. But the inventor of optogenetics has given the world the ultimate instrument of thought control, and I hardly find that relaxing.
Optogenetics is the conducting of activity in neural circuits using light. p131
Using methods developed by the author, it allows remote control of individual cells, hence individual people. Here, KD does not see this as problematic but focuses on the possible benefits.
Our paths, our joys,our values all lie along threads that can be cut, connections bearing our memory, projections that are ourselves. p201
A few spikes of electrical activity in a few cells control choices and actions of individuals. p179
The implications of this power are serious.
We each have a narrative in our minds...to explain ourselves to others, to justify our sense of self and our relationship to the moment. p115
If the self can be at war with its own needs, are invasive strategies necessary therefore justified in an effort for inner peace? The idea of self as path leads to the awareness that
The self makes, and is, its own place in space and time. p174
there can be no self without movement along the path. p185
How all these ideas reconcile will merit further reading.
We all live, and move, in the crafts we have built for ourselves. p44
Not everything needs to make sense if it brings warmth. p111
If I admit that much of this book gave me the chills, does that follow that whole chunks of it made little sense to me? It may be that comprehension is limited to those already neurologically enhanced beings who accept the kinds of research and emphasis KD favors. The man himself is obviously brilliant and his warmth encourages readers to relax. But the inventor of optogenetics has given the world the ultimate instrument of thought control, and I hardly find that relaxing.
Optogenetics is the conducting of activity in neural circuits using light. p131
Using methods developed by the author, it allows remote control of individual cells, hence individual people. Here, KD does not see this as problematic but focuses on the possible benefits.
Our paths, our joys,our values all lie along threads that can be cut, connections bearing our memory, projections that are ourselves. p201
A few spikes of electrical activity in a few cells control choices and actions of individuals. p179
The implications of this power are serious.
We each have a narrative in our minds...to explain ourselves to others, to justify our sense of self and our relationship to the moment. p115
If the self can be at war with its own needs, are invasive strategies necessary therefore justified in an effort for inner peace? The idea of self as path leads to the awareness that
The self makes, and is, its own place in space and time. p174
there can be no self without movement along the path. p185
How all these ideas reconcile will merit further reading.
July 3, 2023
An enigmatic tour of emotions and the brain. The author is a psychiatrist, neuroscientist and all around brainiac.
Brilliantly explains the mechanisms and origins of some our inner states through stories of his patients, each with a different kind of mental illness.
I discovered Deisseroth on Huberman’s podcast and his is one of my favorite episodes to date.
His book has only deepened my admiration for medical professionals and rekindled a sense of awe for the marvel that is the mind. I think it is one of the few that I’ll eventually be rereading.
Brilliantly explains the mechanisms and origins of some our inner states through stories of his patients, each with a different kind of mental illness.
I discovered Deisseroth on Huberman’s podcast and his is one of my favorite episodes to date.
His book has only deepened my admiration for medical professionals and rekindled a sense of awe for the marvel that is the mind. I think it is one of the few that I’ll eventually be rereading.
December 13, 2021
Karl ist Psychiater und ein Bioengineer, der Optogenetik als Therapieform verwendet. Also eine biologische Technologie, um zelluläre Aktivität mit Licht kontrollieren zu können. In seinem Buch „Projections“ erzählt er über unterschiedliche Patienten, die unter Autismus, Bulimie, Alzheimer, Depressionen und co leiden. Er erzählt von ihrem Krankheitsbildern.
Read
August 7, 2021Parts of the book are already leaving me. this is why i should write thoughts straight after rather than a week later.
the book did a lot of things for me. it made my thoughts really swirly. i realise that i often search for books that will have a similar effect on me. i want it to be a little mental spring board, where I start visualising and fantasizing about various aspects of my life. i wonder if that's what hope is. Actually, i start visualising all sorts of things, from relationships, to current projects, to ambitions, to random images or made up things.
one of the pictures i visualised was this immersive library room, where the shelves are digital and where, if i have a kid they can wander through it. somehow it is spatially categorised, but also the books are randomly generated. this has nothing to do with the book
anyway, Deisseroth's book does this for me because his life is incredibly fascinating to me. I am currently in a similar lab, finding my feet in neuroscience, but it is possible that stories of psychiatry have always captured me more. i don't think i could really be a psychiatrist though. i thought the combinations of stories was very artfully told, and they interweaved and contrasted nicely. i thought that Deisseroth was more literary than me, and I thought the scenes were painted very artful, the pieces of dialogue that are chosen paint the characters well.
Deisseroth said this book was something like 20 years in the making, and perhaps, this is my favourite kind of book. i like books that immerse me in the windy way life can be, and so i like that this read like a memoir of sorts. i like the zooming out from neuroscience and psychiatry into the bigger picture.
I expect that I should be liking the technological aspects of it the most, the cutting edge parts of science, and i like the feeling of being at the precipice of it, but actually I find the human elements of the stories the most drawing and most compelling.
i like it when deisseroth reveals or hints at personal revelations of his own life, and i like that he explains science in a non-jargon way. this skill is very lost, probably in myself as well.
this book does take me down the intense breadth of experiences that humans can experience. it reminds me of a fairly specific feeling that was also captured in Kay Jamison's memoir, which is that I know nothing of the human mind, and that in some sense, there is so much beyond our control. i guess this is the opposite sense to what psychiatry might aim to show, but the reminder is important, to be grounded in reality. it also feels important somehow, to understand the range or extent to which the human mind can behave as.
im rambling now. perhaps there are some reminders from psychiatry that are useful in healthy does. it makes life grounding. in some doses, it can easily be ungrounding. perhaps that is also a useful reminder.
some of the revelations from research are just very fascinating, such as the inhibitory or excitatory cells. probably there was more, but i read to fast for my own good, where i should have slowed down. Anyway, there are a few memoirs that have undoubtedly left broader influences on me throughout my life. jamison's was one, and i think this is one too. perhaps the combination of neuroscience, being at the forefront of very big questions, was very illuminating for me. if this were the first book on psychiatry that i had read, i would have thought it a very ideal introduction because the examples are chosen well.
i liked the very crisp descriptions, such as the gaps of empathy at some stage being like huge metal doors opening a slither. i thought things like this was very effective. however, i did notice that some sentences were confusingly structured. for the most part though, it reads well.
i like that it also raises some very big open ended questions. these were also sections that i should have slowed down more on. the questioning of reality and being sound can be quite trippy. perhaps though, i do skim some of them because things such as free will interest me less, for whatever reason.
overall, i found that the book interweaved neuroscience, psychiatry, technology, open-ended questions, reflections and an interesting memoir life arc in an interesting way. it made me think a lot, which is my ideal kind of book
the book did a lot of things for me. it made my thoughts really swirly. i realise that i often search for books that will have a similar effect on me. i want it to be a little mental spring board, where I start visualising and fantasizing about various aspects of my life. i wonder if that's what hope is. Actually, i start visualising all sorts of things, from relationships, to current projects, to ambitions, to random images or made up things.
one of the pictures i visualised was this immersive library room, where the shelves are digital and where, if i have a kid they can wander through it. somehow it is spatially categorised, but also the books are randomly generated. this has nothing to do with the book
anyway, Deisseroth's book does this for me because his life is incredibly fascinating to me. I am currently in a similar lab, finding my feet in neuroscience, but it is possible that stories of psychiatry have always captured me more. i don't think i could really be a psychiatrist though. i thought the combinations of stories was very artfully told, and they interweaved and contrasted nicely. i thought that Deisseroth was more literary than me, and I thought the scenes were painted very artful, the pieces of dialogue that are chosen paint the characters well.
Deisseroth said this book was something like 20 years in the making, and perhaps, this is my favourite kind of book. i like books that immerse me in the windy way life can be, and so i like that this read like a memoir of sorts. i like the zooming out from neuroscience and psychiatry into the bigger picture.
I expect that I should be liking the technological aspects of it the most, the cutting edge parts of science, and i like the feeling of being at the precipice of it, but actually I find the human elements of the stories the most drawing and most compelling.
i like it when deisseroth reveals or hints at personal revelations of his own life, and i like that he explains science in a non-jargon way. this skill is very lost, probably in myself as well.
this book does take me down the intense breadth of experiences that humans can experience. it reminds me of a fairly specific feeling that was also captured in Kay Jamison's memoir, which is that I know nothing of the human mind, and that in some sense, there is so much beyond our control. i guess this is the opposite sense to what psychiatry might aim to show, but the reminder is important, to be grounded in reality. it also feels important somehow, to understand the range or extent to which the human mind can behave as.
im rambling now. perhaps there are some reminders from psychiatry that are useful in healthy does. it makes life grounding. in some doses, it can easily be ungrounding. perhaps that is also a useful reminder.
some of the revelations from research are just very fascinating, such as the inhibitory or excitatory cells. probably there was more, but i read to fast for my own good, where i should have slowed down. Anyway, there are a few memoirs that have undoubtedly left broader influences on me throughout my life. jamison's was one, and i think this is one too. perhaps the combination of neuroscience, being at the forefront of very big questions, was very illuminating for me. if this were the first book on psychiatry that i had read, i would have thought it a very ideal introduction because the examples are chosen well.
i liked the very crisp descriptions, such as the gaps of empathy at some stage being like huge metal doors opening a slither. i thought things like this was very effective. however, i did notice that some sentences were confusingly structured. for the most part though, it reads well.
i like that it also raises some very big open ended questions. these were also sections that i should have slowed down more on. the questioning of reality and being sound can be quite trippy. perhaps though, i do skim some of them because things such as free will interest me less, for whatever reason.
overall, i found that the book interweaved neuroscience, psychiatry, technology, open-ended questions, reflections and an interesting memoir life arc in an interesting way. it made me think a lot, which is my ideal kind of book
February 20, 2023
Interesting book of a psychiatrists and neuroscientist telling about his work experiences with people with psychatric disorders. Also a fascinating aspect of optogenetics and it’s possibilities in future healthcare :)
July 17, 2021
Karl Diesseroth brought light to light, bringing light to the effects of light on brains. An intense investigation into memories, mental instabilities, patient care and optogenetic research. An unusual work because you can feel the tug of poetry, of literature, in his tales of patients. His empathy and sensitivity for his patients make a riveting read.
February 4, 2022
Brilliantly written book by a brilliant man. Karl Deisseroth is a psychiatrist and a leading researcher the field of treatment for mental illness. I definitely liked some of the stories better than others
August 14, 2021
Beautifully written, incredibly inspiring.
October 14, 2021
WOW.... His writing is truly incredible A++++. I learned more from this than 95% of my psychology classes.
April 20, 2022
It's an okay book. However, in some places, it was rather tedious to read.
July 12, 2023
At first I quickly became annoyed with Diesseroth’s writing. It felt dense and scattered— like he was trying too hard to be profound, especially in the dialogue between him and patients. I felt like people don’t talk like that (Aynur story). But after putting it down on around page 80 for months, I picked it up again and kinda went along with the writing. I was like surfing along as he went on convoluted discussions jumping from evolution to the organization of his Stanford residency positions to patient interactions and neuroscience/optogenetics and enjoying the view. I’m so glad I kept reading. It’s awesome. I feel like I have learned so much about neuroscience that makes sense and connects a lot of the things I’ve been confused about for the past couple of years. I also learned so much about psychiatry and what these illnesses and disorders are on a more honest level. I’m inspired to use a lot of what I learned from this book as a med student and also doctor someday.
January 28, 2023
★★★☆☆
My second non-fiction read of the year!
My partner who is on his way to becoming a neurosurgeon recommended this read to me having followed Deisseroth’s work for some time. Although I wouldn’t typically seek out something like this, I’m always looking for ways to expand upon my knowledge in various fields or disciplines I know next to nothing about.
Deisseroth’s work in optogenetics is memorizing to read about. He was one of the first scientists in the early 2000s to demonstrate that scientists could activate/deactivate neurons using light to study the brain. In 2021, he was awarded the Lasker Award for his contributions to optogenetics.
Deisseroth’s career trajectory and the way he interacts with his patients is worth reading about; however, the prose was way more poetic than I though it would be. At times, his style of writing came across as inauthentic—especially during the large sections about his actual patients which read more like fiction since the entire narrative is essentially from his perspective.
There are some things that didn’t sit right with me: animal testing and autism as something to be cured. I can’t speak for everyone, but I know many autistics don’t see their diagnosis in this light. Unfortunately, it is only society at large that refuses to accept anything outside of neurotypical.
My second non-fiction read of the year!
Philosoph, psychiatry, psychology, law, religion: all have their own perspectives on the self. Just imagination, without exception, though each fantasy nevertheless describes truth of a sort. But neuroscience, with its power to know a new kind of truth, and to make that truth known, has not quite weighed in with an answer.
My partner who is on his way to becoming a neurosurgeon recommended this read to me having followed Deisseroth’s work for some time. Although I wouldn’t typically seek out something like this, I’m always looking for ways to expand upon my knowledge in various fields or disciplines I know next to nothing about.
Deisseroth’s work in optogenetics is memorizing to read about. He was one of the first scientists in the early 2000s to demonstrate that scientists could activate/deactivate neurons using light to study the brain. In 2021, he was awarded the Lasker Award for his contributions to optogenetics.
Deisseroth’s career trajectory and the way he interacts with his patients is worth reading about; however, the prose was way more poetic than I though it would be. At times, his style of writing came across as inauthentic—especially during the large sections about his actual patients which read more like fiction since the entire narrative is essentially from his perspective.
There are some things that didn’t sit right with me: animal testing and autism as something to be cured. I can’t speak for everyone, but I know many autistics don’t see their diagnosis in this light. Unfortunately, it is only society at large that refuses to accept anything outside of neurotypical.
May 22, 2023
Projections is an interesting mix of both technical advances in modern neuroscience along with practical applications as illustrated by anecdotes from neuropsychiatric patients treated by Dr. D himself. Dr. D beautifully illustrates numerous typically difficult to describe phenomena with his creative writing background, finding a middle-ground between that of technical science writing and creative prose.
My main complaints are surrounding the fact that there is not much of a continuous storyline, but rather that this book strings together a series of random neuroscience topics and stories together in a choppy chapter-driven format. Lastly, while clearly the invention of optogenetics is by all means no small feat, I could have done without repeated praise by Dr. D for his technical advancement; once or twice noting its powers — ok, but more than ten times — excessive.
My main complaints are surrounding the fact that there is not much of a continuous storyline, but rather that this book strings together a series of random neuroscience topics and stories together in a choppy chapter-driven format. Lastly, while clearly the invention of optogenetics is by all means no small feat, I could have done without repeated praise by Dr. D for his technical advancement; once or twice noting its powers — ok, but more than ten times — excessive.
March 14, 2023
I wasn't sure of reading this one because of the reviews. The idea of the book is a chapter per mental issue without too many technicalities. Mostly conversations with the patients, some reflexions and ideas of root cause, sometimes adding optogenetics discoveries relevant to the particular disease. The style is convoluted, lots of weird analogies. I'm not sure if it's flexing, bad editors or he just wants to write for himself. It's annoying but the book is interesting and short enough that I can omit it.
June 20, 2023
Neuroscience is one of the most fascinating and compelling fields out there. The brain, its vast powers and mysteries have captivated me since an adolescent. This book is a riveting, touching, and transformative narrative of biology and our common humanity. Who are we in light of the brains we are born with? What are the forces and factors that shape us and form our journeys on this planet? While I may not entirely endorse Deisseroth’s worldview, I was moved by his depictions of the people and stories he encountered. Moreover, weaving the humanities into his discourse was brilliant.
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