SuitabookBrain twisters
Clive Gifford
- Reading
- Try one experiment at a time, inviting predictions before revealing explanations. Pause at unfamiliar terms, and let the reader choose whether to linger on puzzles or follow the neuroscience sections.
- Themes
- Perception is constructed: Readers encounter shapes that appear to move, a touch illusion involving crossed fingers, and examples showing that visual and bodily perception can be misleading. The activities present perception as a process that can produce surprising experiences, followed by scientific discussion rather than a moral judgement.
- Memory and confidence: The book explores why memory may be less reliable than people think and how it may be possible to remember things that never happened. Memory is treated as a subject for cognitive explanation and questioning, not as evidence that a particular reader’s memories are false.
- Feelings and bodily responses: Activities ask readers to interpret facial expressions, while explanations cover emotions, fear responses, adrenaline and the body's preparation to respond to threats. The book presents this mainly as information or explanation.
- Worth knowing
- The book moves between accessible tricks and specialist vocabulary, including brain structures and sensory systems. A child may enjoy the activities but need help connecting them to the more technical explanations.