An easy read introduction to the brain and its chemistry, Quirk: brain science makes sense of your personality explores the science of what makes each of us tick. Author Hannah Holmes (The Well-dressed Ape) writes informed, informative, and at times amusing or bemused explanations of the chemistry associated with 5 facets of personality and the attributes of each. She provides a layman's guide to the science of each facet, and describes how researchers identify and study qualities such as altruism, anxiety, cheerfulness -- Just how do you identify and test a mouse for cheerfulness? And, are rats patient? (Would you have guessed that there are mouse and rat sized PETs and MRIs?) She shares how each quality might be exhibited in the wild, then proposes the evolutionary value of each trait. She then applies the science to humans and their behaviors. And she does all this using (mostly) layman's language and wry humor. Not surprisingly, neurotics are the most interesting of the five facets...and that description leads off the book, getting it started on all the right notes. Quirk is serious enough to be enlightening.... So well presented that the topic is entertaining, too!