"[10][11][12] Berns' second book Iconoclast: A Neuroscientist Reveals How to Think Differently continues the theme developed in Satisfaction and the exploration of the neurological bases of human creativity.
[11] It describes and investigates iconoclasts: innovative and creative people who break with the established, traditional way of thinking or of doing things; 'break' cultural icons, and manage to do what others say cannot be done.
The work profiles a number of famous 'free-thinkers' such as Warren Buffett; Dale Chihuly; the Dixie Chicks; Richard Feynman; Henry Ford; Steve Jobs; Martin Luther King Jr. and Picasso.
The book describes Berns' efforts to train dogs to voluntarily undergo functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
Because MRI machines are loud and require subjects to remain still during scans, prior to Berns' work, all brain imaging conducted on living dogs was performed with the animals under sedation.
It also describes a study that the team conducted using this method, which observed increases in caudate activity in response to hand signals associated with food rewards.
He noted that "nothing escapes the author's investigative eye" and concluded that "Berns's gumshoe approach to scientific theory offers its own proof that a fresh take on the familiar can be most gratifying".
The reviewer writes that Iconoclast "not only analyzes the nature of iconoclasm in fascinating detail, but also serves as a guide for people who feel trapped by conventional thinking and want to escape.