Inside Your Brain: Ten Discoveries That Reveal How the Brain Works

Ages 8 to 12, Grades 4 And Up

This comedic journey through science history explores ten mind-bending accidents and experiments that take us inside the brain to discover how it works.

The human brain is famously complex and difficult to understand. The brain is also essential to how we function—so much so, that you can't simply poke a stick at it to see what happens. However, if you accidentally poked a stick through your brain, it turns out there’s a lot you can learn. . . . Written by professor of neuroscience Caswell Barry, together with his good friend, the children's author Lucy Ann Unwin, Inside Your Brain takes young readers on an irreverent gallop through history to uncover ten groundbreaking discoveries that have led to our current understanding of how the brain works. The ancient Egyptians discovered in battle that the brain was more important than they'd thought; Luigi Galvani sent electric shocks through dead frogs' legs and uncovered how brain cells work; Phineas Gage's unfortunate accident on the railroads revealed that you can survive a metal rod through the head, while some unwitting kittens helped us understand how our brain develops. Inside Your Brain also touches on our present and future potential to continue testing the brain, such as how we can learn an enormous amount about how the brain processes information from AI without experimenting on a human subject. This entertaining and engaging deep dive into the most mind-boggling area of science is sure to fascinate and delight young readers.

About the Author

Lucy Ann Unwin is a children's author who previously worked as a journalist and presenter for the BBC. Follow her on X @lucyannunwin.Prof. Caswell Barry is professor of neuroscience at UCL in London. He has a PhD in neuroscience and runs his own lab.María Jesús Contreras is an award-winning illustrator from Chile. She was shortlisted for the 2023 World Illustration Awards. Follow her on Instagram at @mariajesuscontreras.