RETURN OF THE LIBRARY LIZARD
"The Second Brain," by Michael D. Gershon, M.D.

Gershon has written a witty, extremely interesting book about, of all things, the human gut. Yes, your intestines and that nasty old colon.

"To be frank," he writes, "the popular consensus is that the colon is a repulsive piece of anatomy. Its shape is nauseating, its contents disgusting, and it smells bad. The bowel is a primitive, slimy, snakelike thing . . . despicable and reptilian, not at all like the brain, from which wise thoughts emerge. Clearly, the gut is an organ only a scientist would love. I am such a scientist."

Gershom is something I had never heard of, a "neurobiologist." Most of his colleagues study the brain, but he and few oddballs have chosen the nervous system of the gut. "I have become accustomed, at meetings of the Society for Neuroscience, to being a house novelty," he says.

Gershon reminds me of teachers I've had who were so enthusiastic that they made some dull-as-dishwater subject absolutely fascinating. He is also a great jokester and storyteller, with the result that his book is not only enlightening but also great fun to read. Consider these chapter headings: "Beyond the Teeth," "Onward and Downward," "It Ain't Over Til It's Over."

You learn that this "enteric nervous system" is a remnant of our evolutionary past (he calls it "reptilian") but it is far from simple. The small intestine has as many nerve cells as the spinal cord--over 100 million--and the same chemical neurotransmitters as in the brain. But the really astounding thing about the "brain in the bowel" is that it operates almost completely on its own. It runs its own shop, merrily managing its work without any input from the "upper brain" and, hopefully, with its owner being oblivious to what is going on. The last thing you want to do, he observes, is to hear from your bowel.

I picked up this book at the library because I wondered if it might explain what was happening to my brother--who, since his colon surgery, has been hearing from his bowel, loudly and insistently, big-time. I was just going to pass it along to him (no pun intended), but then I started reading it and got hooked. If you pick it up, you will be too.