The Human Mind - Complete Series product reviews

"The Brain is the most remarkable organ in the body, because it can transform itself. We can use our mind to change, and improve, our mind, something no other animal can do."
I dont know if I agree with the absoluteness of that statement but I love the idea behind it and that is what this doco series is all about.
The 3 part series first screened on TV a few years ago and I remember seeing bits of it back then so it was really good to get a chance to see the whole thing from start to finish without having to try and ignore the stupid adverts for KFC, McDonalds, and all the other distracting rubbish every 10-15 minutes.
Of the three sections the first, Get Smart deals with how the brain builds its network of cells and how information gets stored in and pulled back out of the structures, and how we can control to some degree what and how these processes happen. Section two, Personality, brings into focus how we use that electrical mess to form our self image and sense of self, and also how it can be changed in the short and long term. It also goes into the differences in our behaviour as we age and the root biochemical causes of it. Section three, Making Friends, explores how we use the brain and it's behaviours to interact with, manipulate, and react to other people in various sized groups, and the differences to our behaviour as the size and nature of the groups around us change.
Though I found all three utterly fascinating, my favourite of the three is definitely number 2, because it is the one that explains to me about the formation of our personality and self-image and also how it can be adjusted as we mature, to become more like the person we want to be and less like the utter plonker we used to be. In other words it gives me hope that the tosspots I have to deal with on a day to day basis will one day become people worth dealing with for more than 10 minutes at a stretch.
I found the narration to be a little stilted and gappy in places, almost like a middle-class English William Shatner in his early Star Trek days. However, drawing on the techniques so clearly demonstrated in section 2 of this show, I was able to put away my frustration at the drawn out dialogue and huge blank pauses, and still retain focus on the message itself. (OK, so I had to go back and replay section 1 again after this but thats not the point, so dont wheeze on my gig so hardcore, cruster. )
Well worth the price tag, this should be on the shelf of every home, even though it is set entirely in England. It gives a lot of insight and information in an easy to absorb format and if you can watch this and NOT learn something, it just proves you need it far more than you thought, so watch it again! WARNING! Contains so gooey scenes of childbirth.