The Spike: the brain’s own language
Hi everyone,
as it’s our first newsletter, I just wanted to say a big thank you to you all for following us at The Spike on Medium.
I’m so excited! Today sees the launch of my new book “The Spike: An Epic Journey Through the Brain in 2.1 Seconds” from Princeton University Press, in hardback, ebook, and audiobook. It’s a rollicking, rollercoaster ride through your brain, from eye to hand and everywhere in between, that sweeps through 30 years of the deepest neuroscience to the frontiers of what we know about how neurons work. It is a book about the most profound understanding of our minds: the spikes passed between neurons, the very language of the brain itself. Recently, I wrote about how the book tells the story of your life in spikes.
In a special offer for followers of The Spike, you can order direct from the publishers and use discount code MARKH at checkout to get 30% off until April 30th. You can also listen to a sample from the audiobook.
But that’s not all. We’ve also covered a lot of the latest and greatest in neuroscience on The Spike.
From me, there’s a light-hearted piece on the giant technological leap that now lets us record each of one million neurons at the same time; a deep dive into “unsupervised neuroscience”: why scientists studying neurons are embracing machine learning. And the strange task of writing the review of the year in neuroscience for 2020.
From Viacheslav Osaulenko we’ve had a terrific guide to the five computational principles that everyone should know about neurons.
And finally, whether you’re looking for something specific about the brain, or just want to broaden your mind, don’t forget to check out the A-Z of The Spike, a guide to everything our essays have covered.
Happy reading!
Mark Humphries
Editor @ The Spike
All those stories in one place:
- Now We Can Record One Million Neurons At The Same Time
- The Spike: An Epic Journey Through the Brain in 2.1 Seconds (short piece on the book)
- 2020: A Moderately Bemused Review of the Year in Neuroscience
- Warning! Unsupervised Neuroscience Ahead
- The Core Computational Principles of a Neuron
- A-Z of The Spike
