Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 29, 1992                   TAG: 9203290249
SECTION: HORIZON                    PAGE: E-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Reviewed by SIDNEY BARRITT
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

NEW LOOK AT OLD ISSUES

In 1984, Bernhard Goetz shot four teen-agers on a New York City subway train because he thought they were about to attack him. Would other "reasonable" people have acted similarly?

Richard Restak, a physician with training in both neurology and psychiatry, argues that the very question of "reasonable" behavior in a stressful situation - although a fascinating point for speculation and cocktail conversation - is the wrong question to ask. Using knowledge gained from the latest scientific research on the brain's function, he argues persuasively that there are ancient responses hard-wired into our brains milennia ago that can override any "reasonable" behavior when the appropriate stimulus arrives.

In more than 41 chapters, Restak explores a variety of topics: dreaming, addiction, suicide. His grounding in different disciplines serves him well and his syntheses frequently offer startling insights into old issues. His command of the evidence brought to the understanding of brain function by state of the art research techniques is impressive.

However, the format for the book serves him less well.

Each essay takes a mere several pages and then ends; the next chapter takes up a different topic. This format is more suited for the newspaper columns that he also writes. His ideas are merely presented, not fully fleshed out and explored in the short space taken. Some of them, or at least their implications, deserve reflection at greater length for the scientifically curious reader. A good introduction without follow-up is frustrating for its incompleteness.

Sidney Barritt is a Roanoke physician.