Chapter 5: Getting Ahead

I found Shubin's introduction to this chapter fairly interesting compared to the previous chapters. He catches my attention with his first sentence. After reading that sentence, i could tell that i was going to enjoy this chapter.

He starts off talking about how complex our heads are, and it made me realize that it's not just brain up there. He talks about the plates, blocks, and rods in our head which i have never heard of before. He teaches us about the complicated trigeminal branches and compares them to cables that carry television, internet, and voice information, which helped me imagine them more clearly since there was no diagram. He also tells us the names of some of the muscles that help us do daily things such as smiling or frowning; when he said the names, i began to play with my face for a bit. It kind of saddened me when i couldn't pronounce the names of the muscles, though. Now i can see why he had to stay up so late studying the nerves.

When we get into the section about the embryos, however, i began to get lost and confused. He talks about the arches, and at first i was okay with it, but for some reason i began to become very agitated as i read further on. Don't get me wrong, i still found it interesting, but it was just so much information in such a short amount of time. I guess i'll just have to read that section over again.

-Shay Fajardo