Let’s be honest. National Geographic readers come in two
breeds: those that read for the fascinating and informational articles, and
those who like the pictures. I’ll be honest and say that I belong in the later
of the two groups, as I am sure many other people do. So, while there are going
to be a group of people who read Carl Zimmer’s “Secrets of the Brain” for fun,
a good portion of the audience will need to be drawn in. Zimmer captures this
inclusive audience through a story. The story acts as a hook. The ‘picture
lovers’ from before couldn’t really care about the brain, but rather care about
the “secrets” (after all, who doesn’t like a good secret?) and what will be
found in the “cascade of files.” He has the readers hooked at this point but
continues to develop the article, slowly adding interesting facts along
storybook elements. The two major storybook elements he uses are the plethora
of adjectives and similes to assist the audience stay attentive and in learning
the information, respectively. For example, in several areas, Zimmer describes
the brain as almost cartoony on film, decorated with “rainbow blobs.” This aids
in the conveying of all of the facts already known about the brain.
Additionally, the salt grain size of mouse brain that Lichtman was able to
re-create holds enough data for 25,000 high definition movies. Even if one
doesn’t know how much data is in that many movies, it is unfathomable for such
a small sample size. This helps assert how much research is still possible in
the future and how much we really do not know about the brain. While this is
one of Zimmer’s many secondary foci, he expands to conveying the number and
names scientists who discovered information and more.
