lifeasdaddy - A google ad for a blog about neuroscience

I use gmail, Google's email service.  I find it really useful - the contra for using the "free" service is that Google ads appear in the sidebar, and the topics of the ads are somewhat related to the content of the email.

I received a reply email from someone yesterday in which we both discussed a blog. Hence the Google ads in the sidebar were somewhat related to blogs or blogging. 

One ad was this:

Discover a smarter neuron
and an unusual take on how memory works. At a new neuroscience blog.
nine-radical.blogspot.com

I thought, "That's interesting.  An individual blogger has coughed up money for a Google Ad.  I'll click through."

Here's the blog called REWIRING NEUROSCIENCE.

Apparently it's a blog by John Harris, and was established in September 2005.  His blogger profile has counted 1,899 views up to this moment.

I wonder how much he paid for the advert?

I wonder how much it has boosted his traffic?

I wonder who John Harris is?

The blog is quite detailed, and to my layman's eye (pun intended Mr. Harris) it seems like the blogger knows whereof he writes.

Here's the blog home page, which is impressive, and has some great photographs.

Maybe the author is this Dr. John Harris of the University of Nottingham.

Maybe the author is this Professor John Harris of The Institute of Neuroscience (Newcastle University)

Maybe the author is this "veteran medical device entrepreneur" John Harris of Arboretum Ventures.  Hmmm.  Bachelor of Industrial Engineering from Stanford and MBA from Kellogg.  Yes, you seem like the most likely John Harris to be web savvy and experimenting on a nexus between Google Ads and blogging.  Here's his picture and another bio.

Well, if he's doing google ads and blogging, my bet is he's got a google alert on some of the words in this blog post, which means .... he's reading this.

Please make yourself known to us Mr. Harris!

Comments

[Helio]

I have seen it too! I have been reading the articles; very interesting indeed, particularly as it seems to provide a neuron-level framework to support Jeff Hawkings' Hierarchical Temporal Memory (HTM) model.

Have you found a way to contact the author? I have some questions I would like to ask, but can't seem to find no contact information in the blog itself. And as you pointed out, "John Harris" is a rather common name to go by...

[Bob Meade]

Nope, Helio. John Harris remains an enigma.

[Jo Kelly]

I followed the same google ad today (April 2008), finding that wonderful blog and I am also curious to find how to contact John Harris and ask him some questions. He has been running the google ad for quite a while now, and yet there is no way to send him feedback or locate him. Perhaps this is an issue with the place he works? Perhaps it is "obvious" to professionals in the neurology field?

[Bob Meade (lifeasdaddy)]

Jo, he's still an international man of mystery!

He's still writing some great stuff, but is such a modest person he has no need to bask in the postive vibes from acolytes.

But if you're reading this John Harris, please make yourself known.

[Lionel Mills]

I have been trying to explain why water is so fascinating to us: e.g.we sail, go fishing, holiday at the seaside and like houses by water. I suspected it might be due to the polarised light reflected off the surface producing `noise' which acts to help raise subconscious memories above the threshold of detection by stochastic resonance; but after reading John Harris, I will leave it to the experts. I just hope that he might read this and could perhaps weave this into his amazing tapestry

[John Takacs]

Sorry to comment on a 2 year old post, but I agree with the original article, and all of the comments posted so far. I hope somebody will find out who the man is. It is quite possible he is similar to Minerva of South Korea, a brilliant genius hiding behind the mystique of anonymity. The problem is that once the anonymity is gone, BOOM, you lose your followers.

So, lifesadaddy, any word or update?

Very thoughtful piece by the way. I'll be back.

[Bob Meade]

John, comments are always welcome and I reply if I'm able.

New readers are welcome too!

I cannot offer any update. I've just been to check the blog and can advise his number of profile views has advanced to 7,300.

That is all.

[Bob Meade]

I can add something now. My referrer log has just had a hit from a statcounter - back to this blog post.

That suggests to me that someone is reviewing the log stats at the REWIRING NEUROSCIENCE blog.

And the person who is reviewing the blog stats is well aware of this little discussion about the blog author's possible identity.

Come out, come out, wherever you are!

[John Harris]

Yes, I clicked the Statcounter link to LifeasDaddy. Many thanks for all the comments here, and for the attention you are drawing to the Rewiring Neuroscience blog.

It is of course a huge lift to envision John Harris as “an international man of mystery,” but it overdramatizes what I am trying to do. Rewiring Neuroscience is a project somewhere between science history and science journalism.

It seemed to me a number of very good speculative ideas were bulldozed aside and buried as neuroscience progressed over the past many decades, and that some of these ideas and their authors ought to be revisited. I originally guessed there were 9 such ideas, hence the original theme and URL of the blog (nine-radical.blogspot.com). But right now I am researching and writing Chapter 12 and it is obviously too late to go back and change the URL to 12-or-more-radical-ideas.

After I finish the book/blog, probably in mid-2010, I might open up the site for commentary, insights, discussions and arguments, or maybe download software to establish a forum. According to the Statcounter the site has received 60K visitors since 2006, which seems to me a fairly good number for a specialized interest science blog. So a forum might work. At some point I will also add an internal search engine to the site.

Thank you again for your kind comments and for your interest in Rewiring Neuroscience.

Regards, John Harris

[Bob Meade]

John, you're welcome. I do not profess to understand the points you are making on your blog. But the other commenters seem to believe you have some important things to say. Good luck.

Well done on your promotional strategy. Book publishers are very keen to have an author who understands the value of promotion and have built an audience even before the book comes out.