Many kinds of fears, great quotes from extraordinary scary books, and weird science facts.
One of my favorite things about Horror on the Brain is Lim’s personality. He’s up front with his limitations and personal fears, wicked smart, funny, and has an uncanny ability to dive into neurobiology with such conversational flair that I’m entranced.

I confess to skipping ahead to parasites and laughing uncontrollably. Having spent years travelling in tropical regions, this topic has never before been a laughing matter.

I read a good deal of non-fiction and an author’s personality isn’t usually something I mention. Lim is outstanding. The book releases on the 8th.

April 5: TikTok Crrently Reading post
Thank you, The Globe Pequot Publishing Group, Inc. | Prometheus Books, for the e-ARC for consideration. These opinions are solely my own.

This was a really interesting and exploration of the science and psychology related to madness and fears. This book dives deeply into the subject, looking for answers to a multitude of questions such as
- why we're fascinated by certain classic horror stories and iconic characters from that genre
- the inventor of the EEG machine and what it tells us about brain function and patterns
- true life cases about changes in personality and development of amnesia following brain injuries
- neurological conditions such as narcolepsy, CJD (mad cow disease) and sleepwalking including extreme true life cases of these conditions; and so much more!

This incredibly detailed and researched non-fiction book not only talks to the neuroscience behind all the above but connects the science to our most loved horror and science fiction, linking the fascination we have for the frightening and the macabre. The topics in each chapter are explained in an engaging and enjoyable manner and you don't need to be a neuroscientist or psychologist to understand the subjects covered. I found each chapter fascinating and informative, with many interesting and fun tidbits thrown in. A great read .

Thank you to NetGalley And The Globe Pequot Publishing Group Inc for the opportunity to read and review this book

Horror on the Brain: the Neuroscience Behind Science Fiction
Austin Lim, PhD
Reviewed by Gevera Bert Piedmont

This non-fiction tome has a variety of audiences: those interested in neuroscience, in psychology, and in science fiction and horror. As a horror author and reader, I am going to come at the book from the latter point of view.
Dr. Lim, who calls himself “a forever student of neuroscience and psychology,” uses excerpts from science fiction and horror (movies, literature, pop culture, and television) to illustrate various scientific principles of brain chemistry and science. He explains, in great detail, the science behind each concept and then how that concept has been used in fiction. For the delicate, know that there are some spoilers.
As a writer, I found this book to be a great resource. Details of exactly what happens in the human body during a fear response, for instance, will help me better describe a scene in the future where someone is afraid—showing instead of telling. The section about a person who literally feels no fear could be used as a jumping off point for a character or plot.
Just about everything that can be used to scare, titillate, or torture someone can be found in these pages, including horrifying places. Our brains are apparently hardwired to be afraid of snake-shaped objects—who knew? And liminal spaces make everyone uneasy. And then there is the uncanny valley—creatures or objects (robots, for instance) that look almost human but not quite, in a way that really creeps us out. Why is that?
Dr. Lim brings us all the way back to the beginning—Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the original horror story that crosses over with science fiction, the first mad scientist. Concepts of eternal life, of the living dead, of bringing the dead back of life, are all familiar concepts in horror he explains the underlying science. Having that science allows authors to bring in another layer to their writing.
He moves into sleep disorders, dreams, and what might be happening in the brain when we sleep, and how the brain can actually be rewired, which could be awesome or horrifying. That leads right into psychoactive drugs and substances, good and bad, and what that means for brain chemistry. Adding in some involuntary poisoning or addiction is always a fun complication in writing. This all leads nicely into operant conditioning, programming people to do specific things, like rats pressing a certain lever for food.
People may also be highly motivated by negatives—avoiding pain. (Or seeking it out—people who love being tattooed or eating super spicy food.) And there is the bugbear of pain—chronic, long-term pain. All this can be traced through nerves and neurons and chemicals in the brain and thus may enrich your future story. Imagine a villain that could somehow induce fibromyalgia in their enemies!
Memory and memory loss may not seem scary, but only if you haven’t known anyone with dementia. Dr Lim here also references William Gibson’s “Johnny Mnemonic,” whose titular character carries vast amounts of data hidden in his brain. Different types of amnesia are described, along with the removal of sections of the brain and separation of the hemispheres to treat illnesses. Can memories be implanted? Can they be false? What if your brain is damaged in such a way that you think your hand belongs to someone else (alien hand syndrome)?
Although the science sections can be a bit thick, the book itself is full of great premises for writers; it is definitely worth a read and is a great starting point for any number of “what if” scenarios. My copy is already highlighted and full of notes.

(will be posted to BookTrib, don't have the link yet)

Horror is one of the clearly defined genres and emotions.
As someone who writes and analyses horror and has a keen interest in neuroscience, I had to read this book.
Our perceptions, primal fears, survival mechanisms, mental health are coupled with examples from fiction in this well-researched book.
I wish it were slightly differently edited, but I would love to read more by this author, and more on the topic.
The more scientific evidence, the better.

My thanks to NetGalley and The Globe Pequot Publishing Group, Inc.- Prometheus Books for an advance copy of this look at the many mysteries of the human brain, how it processes and deals with horrific and amazing events, the problems the brain can cause, and how authors have used these wonders, and difficulties to create some of the most enduring works of fiction.

My parents and my neighbors across the street shared a rotating duty when I was growing up. Each one one of the parents would bring myself, possibly my brother, and my two friends to the movies. My parents were pretty cool about movies, my neighbor had no idea. Name it and she would take us. Which is how I at a young age saw a little film by John Frankenheimer movie called Prophecy. Imagine Jaws, in the woods of Maine, with a mutated bear, blood, babies, and all other sorts of things that I, used to Saturday Morning Cartoons, had never seen before. For some reason this movie has stayed with me, more than Evil Dead, Necromantic, all the other gross vile, and horrific movies I have seen. Even now I look at the woods out my window, wondering what that noise was. That was my first real experience with horror, and it is something that has stayed with me. The genre has been popular since the early days of sitting around the campfire, or when Mary Shelley created science fiction. Things scare us. Sometimes they are real, sometimes they are in our heads. Sometimes they are in the minds of others, or created from the minds of others, and that can scare us even more. Horror on the Brain: The Neuroscience Behind Science Fiction by professor of neuroscience Austin Lim, looks at why we feel fear, why certain stories speak to our fears, and why sometimes the brain turns on us, and used as a basis for stories that still scare us.

The book is broken down in chapters that look at different ways the brain can feel, can process or be consumed by fear. Each chapter starts with quotes from various books of fiction, from Shelley, Welles, Clarke and of course the master of monster, myths and nightmares H. P. Lovecraft. Science fiction is in the title, but many of the references are of the horror genre. Lim takes a look at different events that could effect the mind, and could be used to create stories. Lucid dreaming and sleepwalking, along with other conditions that are sleep related like sleep paralysis. Lim looks at real cases and studies, talking about a woman who couldn't feel pain, and how this changed her outlook on life. Lim uses real studies detailing how things were in the past, and how things might be in the future, and what stories could be taken from them. Lim discusses the fears that people have of someone who acted different, how fear of the outsider is the basis of many stories, and why. Lim also includes many examples from literature, using popular and in some cases almost forgotten writers.

The book is well written, and told with a lot of experience in both neuroscience and horror. There is a lot more neuroscience than literature, which might cause some consternation, but I liked the information, and found much of quite enlightening, and again well presented. As a person who enjoys quotes I also liked the use of bits from stories to enrich the chapters. I must admit some of the case studies were a bit more unsettling than some of the fictional stories. Not mutant bear scary, but close.

One can see a person going through sleep paralysis, or lucid dreaming, or seeing and hearing things that weren't there, could be used as inspiration by creative people for stories. A lot of horror is just seeing something that should not be, being right there. An interesting look at the brain and how it can be right, and something really, really wrong.

This was a fascinating concept and enjoyed the science and how it works with the brain in this book. It is a more scientific read and thought it worked overall. I was invested in what Austin Lim worked and appreciated getting to read this.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this advanced reader's copy and the opportunity to this early. Review has been posted on Waterstones and Amazon.

Very heavily scientific. Not an easy read at all. It is like reading scientific article after article. Many of the topics are good and interesting but it is. Very taxing to read. This is not what I was expecting. The focus isn't horror but how the brain works.