You Have a Brain

We bought Ben Carson’s You Have a Brain: A Teen’s Guide to T.H.I.N.K. B.I.G. for our kids. We knew a bit of his life story; someone had given us America the Beautiful a few years ago, and my husband had read it. We had also watched the movie Gifted Hands. His seemed like an inspiring story. We actually ended up listening to the whole thing together in one day on Audible. It was the day of our yearly applesauce making extravaganza back in the fall, and Carson’s book formed the backdrop of the day.

By now, many are familiar with his story, thanks to his temporary infamy when the news media raised rumors about his credibility in the early days of his presidential campaign. Having already read/heard the book, we felt sad that he would be targeted in this way. We never doubted Carson’s truthfulness, and we were glad when the rumors, gaining no traction, died away.

This book tells the story of Carson’s indomitable mother, who instilled in her sons a courageous spirit and big dreams even though she had an uphill battle for most of her life. Married to a bigamist who abandoned his family when Carson was a young boy, she worked hard to provide for her sons and preserve opportunities for their betterment. Carson recalls her familiar refrain, “Do you have a brain??” and uses it as a structuring device for his story of discovering his own potential and ultimately rising to become a brain surgeon. The story affirms the importance of reading and education, of persistence and hard work, of integrity. The letters of “Think Big” make up an acronym intended to help teens remember the key ingredients to success. This came off as rather forced. (For example, the “N” in “Think” stands for “Nice.”) I thought of other biographies, such as Frederick Douglass (for whom learning to read opened the door to freedom from slavery) and Ben Franklin (hard work + virtue = success), by turns as we listened.

It may have been because of the experience of taking in the whole book  in one day’s dose, but my only reservation was that by the end it had begun to sound self-aggrandizing. To hear all of one man’s accomplishments in a single day does get old after awhile. It has come back to me in recent days as we’ve seen Carson refuse to withdraw from the presidential race despite barely registering in the polls anymore. He is not someone who has tasted failure much, and maybe he has a hard time facing that this may be something that won’t fit into the general pattern of succeeding at everything he tries. But surely Christians should be the first to recognize when their personal aspirations need to be set aside for a greater good. Our identity is not in our personal success or failure, but in our position as children of God.

Like any biography, this represents the author’s interpretation of his life. Because young people need as much encouragement as they can get to believe in the possibilities available to them, they might find this book to be challenging and inspiring.