THE SCIENCE OF SIN: WHY WE DO THE THINGS WE KNOW WE SHOULDN'T BY JACK LEWIS
BOOK REVIEWS BY BINOD
BINOD’S RATING: 8/10
Pride. Sloth. Gluttony. Lust. Envy. Greed. Wrath.
The book centers around the seven "sins"- behaviors that can be bad when taken to an extreme but can be good when taken in moderation. It’s not about trying to explain what is bad or good, but more of why our brains are wired to “sin”, things taken to an extreme. For example, we are wired to eat to protect against starvation but at the same time, this wiring can lead to a craving for high-calorie foods - the sin of gluttony.
The Science of Sin brings together the latest findings from neuroscience research to shed light on the universally fascinating subject of temptation – where it comes from, how to resist it and why we all tend to succumb from time to time. With each chapter inspired by one of the seven deadly sins, Lewis illuminates the neural battles between temptation and restraint that take place within our brains, suggesting strategies to help us better manage our most troublesome impulses with the explicit goal of improving our health, our happiness and our productivity.
Writing with breadth, clarity and wisdom, Lewis takes us through each 'sin’ in the same careful and systematic way; highlighting their types, glory and their devastating consequences, their evolutionary origins and what it means to commit them – or not.
All this analysis was possible only because of fMRI (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging), a technique for measuring brain activity. fMRI works by detecting the changes in blood oxygenation and flow that occur in response to neural activity – when a brain area is more active it consumes more oxygen and to meet this increased demand blood flow increases to the active area. fMRI can be used to produce activation maps showing which parts of the brain are involved in a mental process. It’s non-invasive, provides excellent resolution and is easy to use. Over the last decade fMRI has provided immensely valuable insight into how memories are formed, language, pain, learning and emotion etc.
What I didn’t like? The section on each Sin delves into the anatomy of the brain with a raft of jargon and acronyms that threw me into Yawnsville. In fact, I skipped most such parts. I mean who the hell can or wants to understand the medial prefrontal cortex, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) or the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC)? Although towards the end you find out, not unlike a mystery novel, that the dACC is the villain responsible for many of the sins!
A section I liked a lot was the one on Pride, because I’m fascinated by soft skills and leadership development and extreme narcissism is one negative trait that you see all around you- managers, CEOs etc.
Something important I learnt was that the brains of some humans are different and hard wired such that they cannot control what happens in their brains. While they must be held responsible for their actions, they can’t be blamed for the feeling generated by their brains. I also picked up a link to a stack of useful psychometric tests. I ran one of them, an online NPI (Narcissistic Personality Inventory) test on myself and ended up with a score of 14. Try it out; it’s a largely unbiased way of finding more about yourself.
The last section titled Beyond Temptation on how to manage the 7 sins is not only the most practical part of the book but is also the most intellectually entertaining, throwing as many ideas and questions as much as solutions. Is mindful meditation the sustainable remedy? Is monitoring anti-social behavior in real time a good idea? Should you be able to buy devices that tell you when you are about to “lose it”? What can we learn from religion on preventing and managing antisocial behavior in this world that is fast becoming secular? One compelling idea is that the 7 sins are motivated by a desire to reduce personal suffering e.g. vanity to reduce low self-esteem and anger to reduce feeling of being socially slighted. Hence it is perfectly reasonable for anyone to want to feel better and we should not condemn them as sinners.
Anyone who hasn’t been able to stick to their diet, anyone to whom the world seems more vain and self-obsessed than ever, anyone who can't understand why love-cheats pursue their extra-marital affairs, anyone who struggles to resist the lure of the comfy sofa, or anyone who makes themselves bitter through endless comparison with other people - this book is for you.
Jack Lewis is a neurobiologist and television presenter. He earned a PhD in neuroscience from University College London, continuing his research using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics. For the past 10 years he has focused on bringing the latest neuroscience research to the attention of the widest possible audience.