I consider myself a person who learns more effectively by visuals. Neurocomic did just that, the cover to the very last page was so intriguing i almost did not want to stop reading. The chapter that i was drawn to the most was chapter 4 on plasticity, the reason why is because memory has always been this obstacle for me. A challenge because i can’t seen to be able to remember much but learning very specifically how we remmeber something. And that there are two types of memory motor memories and explicit memories. And most importantly that our brains are plastic, and once we learn something it continusely shaped by experience. Which is really hard to believe according to myself because i feel like nothing sticks with me i have to take advantage while its still fresh in my mind. but maybe my brain is just set up that way because if its anything i have learned that everyones brain is different and it’s okay to be different and i have to learn to embrace my difference.
The epilogue was a great way to close the book. It was very realistic and it included the audience and how we connected certain pictures and patterns. And the part where we get to thank our brain and its very comical with the main character and the woman and how we get to decide the ending of the story. This book teaches a lot and has valuable information and is easy to read and its enjoyable so i would recommend the author to make several editions of this book and teach several other topics. And the audience can literally be anyone.
I actually enjoyed the epilogue as well because it reminded me of how we sometimes lose track of reality when we read especially since its easy too. Reading unlocks a whole new world for the reader to explore, but by telling us that the two characters did not in fact exist and make it into a conversation helped to close the book in a way that made you question the full potential of the brain and all its worth. I agree that the audience can be anyone because it may not appeal to everyone in it’s material, but by having amazing art work to go along with the detailed material as a way to balance the two allowing for anyone to have access to the book and its content.
Chapter 4 also interested me because memory is just … well, it’s weird. Like you, I noted the line, “Once you learn something it is not set in stone, it’s continuously shaped by experience” (94). I was watching an episode of Nova the other week entitled “Memory Hackers,” and there was a point in the show that discussed how there was/is a belief that, once a memory is formed, it stays filed away in the brain forever (analogous to books in a library). However, the act of recalling memories means they are vulnerable to alteration. After coming across page 90 of Neurocomic, I was a bit hesitant to see a filing-cabinet depiction of memory, and I wondered if there was a better way of depicting this scene. Perhaps wavy lines/a distorted archive for that panel would convey this message of volatility in a visual manner? But yes, in general, memory is weird, and even things that “stick” when remembered are not actually permanent, fixed items.
If anyone wants to watch the episode, it can be found here: [http://www.pbs.org/video/2365663085/]. The subject of fear also gets discussed, which is something that was mentioned in class the other day (i.e., What if it was possible to erase fear, as it’s linked to memory?).
I am also a visual learner, so graphic novels are always exciting to read. Its phenomenal how a topic as complex as neurology could be condensed and broken down in to a graphic novel. Like we said in class, we usually associate comics with children, so its a little unexpected to have an “adult comic book” – the graphic novel- for a topic like this. The epilogue was also one of my favorite parts, its refreshing to see the actual connection we as readers make, within the book. It was also very though provoking, kept you thinking about what you just read instead of brushing it off after I was done.