Chapter 5 The Brain Is a Team of Rivals Summary and Analysis

Eagleman opens chapter five with a description of an incident involving the actor Mel Gibson. In July 2006, Gibson was pulled over in his car and arrested for driving while intoxicated. During the incident, he made several insulting remarks about Jewish people, asking the arresting officer if he was Jewish and refusing to get into the police car. A celebrity gossip website obtained a record of the incident, which included a handwritten account of Gibson's remarks, and made them public. Gibson then issued a written apology and offered to take steps to repair the harm he had caused.

Eagleman poses the question of which person is the "real" Mel Gibson, the one who vehemently professes a hatred for Jews or the one who seems genuinely sorry for his...