The Neuroscience List

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Over the last few weeks, I have gotten an idea and I finally decided to act on it. As many of you know, I am a neuroscience student in my last semester of my undergraduate. While I love learning about the brain (and there is so very much to learn!) I have mostly only read textbooks, rarely venturing out into the realm of literature. A few months ago, Eva at A Striped Armchair wrote about a fantastic list that she compiled in response to a lady asking her for book ideas for people who work in a non-profit neurological support organization. Eva found books pertaining to stroke, epilepsy, autism, Parkinson's Disease, headache/migraine, dementia, Alzheimer's, multiple sclerosis, etc., both listing books she had read and others she had heard about.

I was so excited to find this list, I scribbled down the titles that looked interesting to me and pasted them to my Challenges page. I didn't think I'd get through them all, but I wanted to have them there in case I ever needed ideas. I more or less forgot about the books for a couple of weeks, until recently. Because of my interest in neuroscience, I want to make my own neuroscience list/review database. I'm leery of recommending books that I haven't yet read, and when I wrote down Eva's list I didn't organize it (if you visit her page, you will find descriptions of all the books, as well as divisions into types of neurological disorder and whether the book is fiction or nonfiction, etc.) I also wanted to include books about general neuroscience as well as neurological disorders.

So here's my plan. If you look up at my pages, there is a new "Neuroscience List" tab. As I read books about neuroscience, or books that pertain to the brain, I will add them under one of three headings: Fiction, Nonfiction, or Memoir. (Yes, I know memoir is a type of nonfiction - however, to me memoir has a very different feel to it than other nonfiction, so I want to give it its own category). Anyway, those will be my "sorted" books - books I have read. I will follow the book title with neuroscience topics that relate to it in alphabetical order and any reviews I am aware of on the book. I will put the list of Eva's books that I am interested in underneath, but as I read those books I will move them up to my three categories.

Sorry if that sounds complicated! I think it will take a bit of time for me to work the system out but I think it will be the best way for me to build a list as well as work my way through Eva's list. I have to give a public shout-out to Eva - it is an amazing list and I know that she put lots of work into it. I am not trying to replace her impressive list - just trying to alter it to fit in with my needs.

My final little detail about the list is that if you have reviewed any of the books I would love to add your link to the list. I want to have a resource for people who want to learn more about the brain. So if you have read any of the books on my list (rather small) or Eva's list (much longer) please send me your link and I will add it. I'm hoping this experiment goes well! Thank you in advance for your contributions!